Madness Returns: The Lost Soul, The Broken Mind
by Draconos13
Summary: [OC PROTAGONIST, M FOR VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL THEMES] I wake up in London with nothing but the clothes on my body, a violent set of nightmares, and the desire to find Alice Liddell, no matter what the cost. Only she can help me remember who I once was, and only she can restore her Wonderland to its former self. But, am I connected to her Wonderland's corruption, as well?
1. Waking up Broken

**Hello, everyone. This is a fanfiction I wanted to try, due to my appreciation of the American McGee games. I specifically want to focus on the 'Alice: Madness Returns' game, and I apologize if this isn't what you want to read.**

 **A quick note: This story will have an OC as the main character. I also plan to include content that wasn't released in the official game in the story, mostly concerning Wonderland itself.**

 **Second quick note: I have rated this story as 'M' because the actual games are Mature rated, containing violence and mature themes.**

 **Now a DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and Electronic Arts. The 'American McGee' series is owned by their creators, including unreleased content for said games. The author owns any OC's or custom elements introduced into this story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

 _Thump. Thump. Thump._

My heart beats in a slow rhythm, the first thing I notice in and around me. I take a breath, and gag on a sour, smoky taste in the air. My legs crouch into my chest as I try to block out any more of this air from entering my nose and mouth.

I feel like vomiting on the cold ground beneath me from the taste. My stomach growls in either hunger pains, or a desire to empty its contents. It takes me a second to realize I'm lying on my side against a hard, broken surface.

I finally uncurl when I feel something knobby poke me in the back. I open my eyes to see a brick wall with several moldy spots in front of me, but not the source of the poking that now happens every few seconds. It takes me a few seconds of concentrated effort to roll over to my other side. The first thing I notice from this action is pain as bits of my skin peel off of the cold surface beneath me.

I then see the mottled and bruised face of a man with matted brown hair who, if he wasn't wearing a suit coat and pants blackened by grime, would probably look quite nice. He holds a large stick in one hand, which he pokes into my stomach without stopping. His blue eyes don't shine when I look at them; he doesn't seem to react to my eye contact, or when I slide back to the empty wall, out of his reach. He now taps the ground where I was with his stick as I notice a large bottle in his other hand. The peeling label on the bottle says 'ELEPHANT ELBOW'S RUM' in large black letters.

My stomach calms down as I take a look at my surroundings, my eyes moving faster than my brain. I'm lying against one of two long brick walls covered in mold, the stick-tapping man slumped against the other. To my left is a smaller wall that's hidden almost completely in shadow, the end of this sort of alleyway. Discarded bottles like the one in the man's hand litter the gray stones beneath me; _cobblestones_ , my mind says, without my knowing why.

I stand up slowly, the wall slimy to my hands as I press against it. The man stops tapping as I stand fully upright, and I accidentally lock eyes with him. His own eyes widen, and a bit of color fills them as his mouth opens slightly. Is he going to say something to me?

No, actually. He just give a dopey grin as his eyes cross over. That sends a chill down my spine, and I turn away before does anything else. The only path I can take away from this drunk leads to an equally-dark crossroad of paths. Each step I take is more like a stumble as my mind, now awake and active, starts to ask questions.

Where am I? How did I get here? _Why_ did I get here? Why is this place like this? What time is it? How long has it been since I last ate or drank something? Am I getting a headache? What was with that man's reaction when he finally seemed to notice me? Was it that rum he drank? Or, is it _me_? Is something wrong with me?

On that last question, I take a moment to look myself over. My skin seems pale in this darkened space, but I wear a white collared shirt stained on one side with grime, black pants, and black shoes with white socks. A few pokes around my stomach tell me I don't have much skin on my bones.

A hoarse meow reaches my ears as I step into the dark crossroads. I turn my head and see a white cat sitting on the path to my left, which leads to a sun-lit path and a few distant voices. The cat's yellow eyes look at mine, the pupils slightly dilated from the lack of light. I can see its ribs though its fur and skin, but its tail swishes back and forth energetically. Before I can blink, it gets up and walks down the path towards the light.

I look at the other two paths, leading between two-story and three-story houses, neither of them having any sort of light like the path in front of me. No other person is near me, save that drunken man from where I first woke up. It seems like I have a decision to make regarding where I go next. Do I step out into the light that I know nothing about, or remain in the darkness that I at least have some sort of familiarity with?

The cat draws my attention back to it with a loud hiss. It's just about to enter the sun-lit path, but it looks back at me. I feel a tug rise in my chest, like a string that connects to the cat, _pulls_ me with the cat. I take one step forward, then another, and then several more in quick succession, my legs moving faster as the cat darts into the passing crowds of dark-clothed people.

* * *

I emerge into the light, and almost instantly press my back against a wall to my left as a man with a belly far too large for his britches wobbles past me. A rotund cigar bobs in his mouth, the smoke from that cigar shrouding his black bowler hat. I hold my breath to avoid coughing from the smoke; it burns my eyes like the alleyway's air.

There are more people than this fat smoker out here, which I notice a moment after he moves on. A few women in brightly-colored dresses, and uglier faces, stand in a group at one corner. Predatory grins are on their faces as they watch the men walking by. I don't hear anything they say, but they point to a few men's legs, and what's between them, as they talk. I don't think I should get involved with that.

Two burly, shirtless men talk among themselves in front of a butcher shop, close by to the evil-looking ladies. These men don't notice the attention they're getting from the females. Or, they could just be ignoring it, I don't know.

A distant tune comes from across another corner, but I can't see the source of the music from where I stand. The notes sound scrapy and messy, like the player needs more practice. Again, I don't think I should get involved.

The buildings, now revealed under what sunlight I can see through the smoke-filled sky, all look the same. They all have aged wood and stone, peeling paint, spiked roofs, and chimneys that spew more black smoke into the air. So, that was the smoke I was tasting in the alleyway; it hasn't reached the streets, yet, but the air tastes bad enough already. The few windows I see on the buildings are shrouded in darkness.

Nothing feels safe, here. I feel like a fish out of water, afraid to step into this strange place.

My feelings are shoved aside as someone pushes me against the wall with an angry, "Leave off, you mongrel!"

This comes from a tall, black-suited man with a bowler hat, stubby chin, and wild brown eyes who seems to be smoking a cigar. We lock eyes for just a second, but that second is enough for him to step away from me with a frightened expression and a muttered, "Bloody fuck!" He looks around, and then jumps as he notices something I don't see.

"Oy, 'e's seen us," a deep voice shouts out. "Stop, in the name of the law!"

Two very muscular men charge towards the two of us from within the crowd, one closer than the other. I look them over in just a few moments. They both wear navy blue uniforms made of tail coats, top hats, trousers, and black boots. Their footsteps sound like giant's stomps to my ears. I shouldn't be near them, should I?

The black-suited man next to me barrels through the crowd with wild abandon, away from the uniformed men, and me. I see his cigar falls to the street out of the corner of my eye. I don't get a breath in before the closer of the two men starts shouting from behind me.

"You little cur! You're under arrest for helping Jack Splatter escape!" This man has a rough voice and a deep frown, as he grabs my suit, whirls me around, and raises a fist towards my face. I look away and shut my eyes from what he'll do next.

"Hold your tongue, Williard, you're scaring the wee kid!" I open my eyes as the second uniformed man, with a thicker black mustache, holds the younger 'Williard' back from going full out on me.

"We'd almost snuck up on Splatter, Charlie," Williard desperately comments without letting me go. "But, this tyke had to alert him to our presence. Now, that waste of mother's love's gone back to whatever hole in the ground he calls home!"

"You think this urchin deserves harm because of our incognito plan? 'E just appeared, that's all; 'sides, Splatter will turn up again, like a damn termite. Now, what's your name, lad?" The question is directed at me by 'Charlie', who I now turn to face and answer.

At least, I _try_ to answer; for some reason, I can't recall my actual name. Fear makes my throat freeze up and block any words I could say to solve this problem.

"'E's afraid to talk," Williard quickly notes to Charlie. "'E probably knows something about Splatter, at least. Splatter panicked only when 'e appeared!"

Charlie doesn't respond. My fear spreads to my eyes, which burn as my hands start to shake. Charlie's eyes widen in the same way the drunk man did, but he also frowns at something I can't see.

"You're right, Williard," he states. "There's something off about 'im, something that needs further looking at. Come on, lad, a rest in a gaol cell will open your mouth towards what you know."

Charlie's hand rests on my shoulder; his touch makes something inside me break with tremendous force, force that I use to scream, "Wait!" to the men, and struggle out of their grip. I don't know why I'm doing this, but the image of being trapped somewhere, against my will, frightens me to the core.

"Please," I breathe out, my voice sounding high-pitched to my ears. "I… something's wrong. My head… I can't remember things…" I clutch my head as it pounds in quick sequence, opposite to my heartbeat.

"Ay, don't lie to us, lad," Williard snarls as he grabs my arm. "You're coming with us!"

The constable's grip is like iron, now. Charlie grabs my other arm before I can break away a second time. The pounding becomes too strong for me to muster any force against their actions, and I slump to the ground in defeat as they drag me away.

* * *

The gaol is a three-story building in an area with a cleaner air, and more sunlight, than where I first woke up. The building has large white pillars supporting the floors, with rows of brick and large windows between the pillars. We enter the first floor, which has a large lobby with simple tiling, and pass a few people sitting in seats with dejected or upset expressions. However, we quickly move past them and up a flight of stairs to a cell with a wooden floor, peeling white wall, thick metal bars, and one of the windows I saw earlier providing sunlight. Williard unlocks and opens the door while Charlie holds me from running away—not that I want to at this point.

Charlie forces me inside, my body falling before the window as he slips out. Williard quickly closes and locks the door again, from what I can hear. I don't rise up from the floor, the pounding in my head transitioned by this point into an overall cold that makes me shiver, despite the fact I'm lying in direct sunlight. My eyes are clamped shut as I feel sweat run down my body, my shakes increasing as I crunch my legs to my chest again.

"Lad's pretty young, eh?" This comes from Williard, and I can barely hear his words through the roaring in my ears.

"Mmm," Charlie agrees. "A young one, fresh off the slums, I suspect. Makin' his way into the world, but sadly wasn't prepared for it." A groan escapes my throat as a new spasm of shivers makes me slam my foot against the floor like the drunk man from the alleyway tapped his stick on the ground. I have no control over it, I'm too occupied by my pounding head and picking up whatever Charlie and Williard are saying.

"You think he's another insane case," Williard asks. "Should we send him to Rutledge?"

"The asylum? That damn place don't need another broken mind, though they would certainly take care of 'im. Take 'im off of London's streets, for sure. I mean, they cured that one girl last year who'd been in there for ten years, or so. Man, that's a story for the papers there, curing that Alice Liddell."

At the words 'Alice Liddel', I freeze up. My eyes snap open and stare at a small hole in the nearby wall. Charlie continues to speak, but I don't hear anything from him as, to my growing horror, a large, yellow eye with a slit for a pupil emerges from the hole, glances around the room, and then settles on me. The eye blinks once as a deep, firm voice whispers sing-song words into my ears.

" _Ah, Alice. What have you done?_ "

The eye melts into a pool of blood. I scramble back towards the bars, afraid to touch the red liquid. The guards shut up from whatever they were talking about as I roll over to face them. This time they both back up with surprised expressions when I look at them. Clearly, there's something about my face that people here don't like to see.

I clutch the bars with a hand, my strength returning rapidly as I hoist myself to a standing posture, the headache and cold replaced with a determination that fills me to my center. This determination has an identity, a name, a _person_ it is connected to, a person I _must_ find if I am to calm this chaos in my mind.

A single question comes to my lips, which I ask to the two confused guards in a focused tone. It's so different from the fear I had before, I'm not completely sure it's my voice. But, the question is certainly mine.

"Where is Alice Liddell?"

* * *

I sit on the cell floor, the name 'Alice Liddell' the only stable point in my head, the only thing that keeps me anchored to right now, and not drift off into some other realm in my imagination. The rest of my mind flies around in a storm of confusion and ideas, concepts forming and then breaking apart almost instantly afterwards. This storm isn't painful, really, just annoying to have, especially when there's nothing in this cell to draw my attention towards.

Williard and Charlie hadn't answered my question. Actually, they hadn't said anything before walking out of sight. They had also looked at each other in confusion. I had shouted the question to them again as they left my field of view, but they remained silent. I had stayed there for several long seconds as someone in another cell I couldn't see started laughing his head off. I didn't think my question was funny.

Now, I sit before the window as the sun lights up the sky a bright orange. Its heat warms my body and keeps me calm against this mental storm.

One thought that keeps coming up in the storm is that I can't remember my name, if I ever had one to begin with. Should I remember it, though; what if it's a name that gives me more problems? Those two officers, Williard and Charlie, wanted to capture that suited man who had ran into me, a man named 'Jack Splatter'; what if I had a name like his, a name hated by the law? Would I have given my name up for a reason, then?

Does my losing my name connect to that alleyway where I woke up? Did I experience some trauma that led to me being there, like a physical injury? Is that why my face makes people back away in fear? But, what if the injury is a mental one, instead? Is Alice Liddel connected in some way to my injury?

The storm breaks apart as I hear someone approach my cell. I turn from the sunlight to see Charlie say to me, "You've got a visitor, lad. He says he can help you."

I quickly stand up, powering through a wave of dizziness that comes from my rapid rising as Charlie nods to someone out of my view. Another man moves beside Charlie, but he isn't a member of the constables.

This man looks older than Charlie, but his figure is slimmer, his shoulders broader. His face is quite long and thin compared to the people I've seen here, his chin quite pointed and his cheekbones easily visible. A quick glance at his uncovered hands shows they are quite bony, as is his nose. His eyes are small and pale, but they seem to have a glimmer of power inside them I can't define, but I know is there. A full dark brown beard and mustache add to his similarly-colored hair.

He wears a brown coat and top hat, black trousers, a white shirt and gray waistcoat, and a red tie. Large round-rimmed glasses rest on his face and further accentuate his eyes. He looks at me, and actually isn't scared away by my focused gaze. This automatically sets me on edge, though I don't know why. I just catch Charlie step away from the cell, but probably not too far away.

"Good afternoon." The unknown man says this to me, his voice smooth and elegant compared to the officer's deep tones. "My name is Dr. Angus Bumby. I am the psychiatrist, and head manager, of the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Orphans. I was informed of your specific wants a few hours ago by the Constables who work here. However, I want to make sure that I am understanding the situation correctly. Could you please explain to me exactly what it is that you want?"

The doctor's ending question makes me flinch; I hadn't planned an explanation yet, the mental storm being too discordant for me to speak what I want to others. However, if he is willing to listen, then I can't ruin this one chance I have to leave this place. This cell doesn't seem to have any problems of its own, but it offers no help to figuring out where Alice Liddel is. I take a deep breath and close my eyes, doing my best to calm the mental storm and form the words I need to say.

"I don't remember anything about myself," I slowly speak while trying to recall everything that's happened to me. "That part is clear. I woke up in an alleyway, next to a drunken man, and followed a white cat onto a brightly-lit street. I then bumped into a man named Jack Splatter, who then noticed he was being followed by Williard and Charlie in an incognito plan to, I suspect, arrest him. Jack ran into the crowd, and the constables began to question me. I couldn't answer anything they said, so they brought me here and called me an insane case.

"One thing is certain, Doctor," I say as I open my eyes to meet his own. "I _must_ find Alice Liddell. I don't know _why_ , but I am certain that it will help me remember who I am. Can you help me do that, Doctor?"

Dr. Bumby doesn't speak for several moments; he strokes his chin with his hands as he looks me over. I feel the cold from before start to return the longer I remain paused like this, but I try my hardest to keep from shivering in front of this man. He seems to be judging me with his eyes, but I'm not sure whether he's trying to find flaws or benefits.

"You seem very determined to find this person," he then says while crossing his arms over his chest. "How can you be so sure she, if this _is_ a girl you're talking about, is even in London?" I bristle at this question, but do my best to keep a straight face.

"I will find Alice Liddell, no matter where she is. I _have_ to, if I want any chance of figuring my own past out."

"What if she's in an asylum, like the nearby Rutledge, or even overseas? You may have to risk life and limb to find her, and she may not want to see you when you do. She might even be dead, you know."

"I won't believe she's dead until I've seen her fucking corpse!" I scream this at Bumby, gripping the bars with anger-fueled strength. The picture of the one person I know to be true being dead is one my body, and mind, violently reject. Bumby blinks once at my sudden anger, and I release my grip after a few seconds, giving my hands a chance to recirculate their blood.

"Let's make a hypothesis," Bumby then says while adjusting his glasses slightly. "Suppose I know where Alice is, and I bring you to her. What would you do, then?"

My answer is instant, not needing any time to craft: "I would ask her to tell me, honestly, who I was in the past, if she remembers it. I would not try to harm her, or upset her, unless she is upset by my former self."

"And, what if she can't help you, after all?"

"Then, I'll start a new life, with a new job, and wherever I choose to go to live. If Alice doesn't want me around longer than need be, that's fine. However, I need to hear from her that she can't help me, no one else."

"Right then, time's up, Dr. Bumby," Charlie suddenly says as he walks back into my view. "It's getting late. While this conversation is interestin', and all, we have a schedule to keep."

Bumby doesn't respond, but leaves with Charlie without giving me a second glance. Part of me feels like Bumby won't help me, that he'll take me to this 'Rutledge' place he and Charlie talked about. Either that, or he'll just let me rot away here in gaol. But, another part of me says I've broken through to him, explained my faults, and can trust him to help me out.

Neither side completely trumps the other, though, which makes me crouch down against the cell's far corner in a mixture of despair and impatience. My head bows as sleep consumes me.

* * *

 _A scream wakes me up, and doesn't stop as I realize I'm not in the cell, anymore. The yellow eye from before dominates a black horizon, the pupil darting around wildly as it screams without end. The ground beneath me pulses yellow ever few seconds, which prevents me from standing up as the scream starts to make my ears throb._

 _Gibbering words come through the scream's discordant noise. I try to crawl away from the eye and the rumbling ground, but I don't get far before the ground all around me begins to shake, even stronger than before. I start to panic as I now see some kind of black liquid covering my hands, more of it emerging with every shake of the ground. I try to brush it off, but that only spreads it onto the surrounding ground, and my clothes. I get covered in the muck very quickly, the smell of it extremely fowl to my nostrils._

"Alice! _" The eye cries this out as I turn my head back to it and see it is being covered over by the same muck. "_ Save us, Alice! Save us all! _"_

 _The ground beneath me breaks open before I can ask the eye how it knows Alice's name. I tumble through flashing yellow air into a pool of the same black muck. It sucks my body in, its smell and taste eye-wateringly foul. My screams turn into gargles as an inhuman face appears far above the muck._

 _The face laughs at my misfortune without a voice._

* * *

I gasp fresh air into my lungs, and feel liquid on my hands. I brush it off for fear that it's more of that black stuff, but it's actually a clear, sticky substance.

It suddenly clicks that I'm wiping my own drool, which makes me shudder in disgust at my own actions before I wipe them on any space I can, not that it helps me get any cleaner. Sunlight streams in from the window to show a new day. I'm not pleased to see it.

Footsteps resound down the corridor outside my cell, and I move to the bars to see Charlie and Dr. Bumby come up to me. They look a bit happier than yesterday.

"Alright, boy," Charlie says as he unlocks my cell door. "Dr. Bumby's bailing you out, not that you had much of a bail to begin with." Charlie shoots me a lopsided grin at his remark, to which I try to smirk back, but don't get more than a raise of my lips. I slowly step out of the cell, and Bumby quickly takes my hand. His touch seems firm, but his grip feels like iron.

"Come," he quickly says. "You've been enrolled at Houndsditch. You're frankly too young to live your life in a gaol cell. I can help you find what you're looking for, but only if you let me help you recover your memories, in turn. Do we have an agreement?"

"I trust you, Doctor." I shake his hand as I say this, my heart pounding in joy that I'm finally on the right step to finding out who I once was. We walk down the stairway together, but Bumby releases his grip on my hand when we reach the ground-floor lobby.

"Remember," he then says as we through the now-empty room. "I'm here to help you. Recovering memories is a tricky buisness. I just want to make sure you understand that."

I nod in response as we enter into the outside streets. Even though they don't look clearer, I feel better about my situation, in general, as we head towards Houndsditch.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all I'll put for now. I hope you have liked what you've read so far. I will do my best to set up a schedule for posting new chapters, but that will depend on the chapter's length and how distracted I am with other important things (like work, and all that).**

 **Please review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	2. Seeking a Truth

**Hello, readers! Time for the second chapter of this story. This chapter's going to have more content than the last, as well as introduce some of the unreleased content/artwork for the game, in the form of one specific place.**

 **Now, I know this story's had a not-so-productive start, but I plan to add more and more interesting things as each chapter is posted. If you are interested in the story, please keep watch. I promise it will get more interesting!**

 **DISCLAIMER!** Alice: Madness Returns is owned by Spicy Horse and Electronic Arts (EA). The 'American McGee' series is owned by their creators, including unreleased content for these games. The author owns any OC's and custom elements introduced into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I stick close to Bumby as we move through London's streets, casting quick glances at the people around me. They don't look any better from the people I saw yesterday, and it only gets worse as we walk back into the slums I woke up in yesterday. Apparently, this is the 'East End' District. I may be more used to the smell, but I still don't like to smell it. Bumby doesn't seem to mind it, probably since he's lived here for much longer than me; at least, longer than I can remember.

Everyone we pass seems uglier than Bumby, in some way. One woman in a flamboyant dress has a wrinkled face and pointy nose, a butcher has too many cuts along his arms, and a man begging for money by a street corner has a black stump where a leg once was. Compared to them, Bumby seems quite nice to look at, though a quick glance in his direction shows he pays no attention to these people.

We soon arrive at Houndsditch; a two-story brick building attached to two other brick buildings on either side. A tall iron fence surrounds the front, a small archway hangs over a gate entrance, and a set of grime-covered marble decorates the bottom-right area. A copper sign hangs to the right of the gate with the words, "HOUNDSDITCH HOME FOR WAYWARD YOUTH" and, "DR. ANGUS BUMBY, PROF.". As we go through the gate, we pass by a young boy with blond hair wearing a dirty grey coat, brown shorts, black shoes, and an apron with the number "8" on it.

"I'll get the paperwork set up for you in the lobby," Bumby says to me as we enter through a thick wooden door. "Vacancies don't last long, here."

I question what he means by that as I shut the door behind me and take a look around. There isn't much to see; the walls look quite moldy and faded, the wooden floor creaking as I slowly walk around. A piano stands to one side of the room, but there's no one playing it.

A few other children, all wearing faded clothing similar to the boy outside, play with an old wooden dollhouse and some dolls. They don't seem to notice me as I slowly take in the sights. There's also another, smaller room to the right of this main room. This smaller room might be the one with the marble decorations, or some kind of storeroom. Before I can take a look, though, Bumby reappears and beckons me into the lobby.

The lobby looks the same as the main room, save for a large dark brown cabinet behind a wooden desk and chair that holds what looks like several piles of documents. Bumby sits on the chair, looking over a piece of paper in his hands. A circular portrait hangs on the wall away from the window, showing Dr. Bumby with several other orphans, all of them with numbered aprons around their necks and expressionless faces.

"That portrait took a long while to complete," Bumby suddenly explains, apparently seeing me look at it. "Those children are the most well-behaved ones here, but not all of them are here anymore. As I said, vacancies don't last long at Houndsditch.

"Now," he continues while placing a paper on the desk. "This is a simple contract I write up for all arrivals at Houndsditch. It states that this is your home for the time being, that you will not mistreat the other occupants here, and so on. As I said before, I'll also be helping you regain your memories while you're here; you can repay that by finding a job here, or somewhere in East End that I approve of. You will live in the boy's dorm on the second floor, for now. We will have daily therapy sessions, starting today.

"Normally, you would need to sign your name on the bottom to fully approve this contract. However, since you don't remember your name, I shall leave it blank. Recovering your name will be one of the first things I'll help you with, so that this contract can be signed. Do you agree to these terms?"

I am confused at Bumby calling these rules 'terms'. It sounds like he's trying to gain an upper hand on me, or just stating things because he's the head of the place. No, no, that can't be right. Besides, I don't really have much of a choice, here. It's either stay in this place under these rules, or go back onto the London streets and probably get arrested again. I don't really have much of an option.

"I agree, Doctor."

"Excellent." Bumby places the contract on a top section of the cabinet. "The boy's dorm is on the second floor, separate from the girl's dorm. Meals are served to everyone at the same times. Go and wash up; our first session will start soon in my office." I nod to Bumby and head up to the second floor, the stairs up next to a small room on the right. I choose not to explore it right now.

The boy's dorm is on the left side of the second floor. A large table beside the door shows a newspaper that I take a moment to look through. It has articles about rampant criminals like 'Jack Splatter', a government decision by London's 'Parliament' to develop a railway station in East End, and many other negatively-sounding stories. I place it back on the table, and move on into the boy's dorm room.

* * *

There are several other boys here; they all wear gray clothes, and dirty faces, with varying hair styles and eye colors. The beds are bunked along each corner of the large room, simple white sheets and coverings providing resting space. The room's furniture consists of a more broken wooden horse, a record player, two carpets with holes in them, and a few drawers. Muted sunlight streams in through a window.

My arrival makes every boy look at me with the same dismissive gaze. They turn back to their individual activities a second later. I move to the only empty bed, which is the below the bed of a boy with a large mole on his left cheek, gray eyes, and ruffled black hair. He draws on a piece of paper, with drawings of angry humans or monsters on the walls.

"Excuse me," I ask him as politely as I can. "Where can I wash up?"

He blinks at me for several long seconds before he finally says, "'Loo's at the end of the hall."

I nod in thanks, and quickly head over to a single wooden door at the hall's end, marked with a fading symbol of a male and female. I don't dawdle on the look of the bathroom as I move over to the mirror, but I _do_ dawdle on how my actual face looks.

I now realize what made just about everyone I've met look at me strangely. It's not my small nose, thin lips, pale skin, or my short hair colored as brown as the brick that makes up the buildings here. No, it's my eyes; more specifically, their _bright green_ color, the pupils like black dots on a green canvas.

I blink, and my pupils shift in size for a split second. I break my gaze away after a few more test blinks, and take a small towel hanging by the mirror. It's the best option to wipe the grime and drool off my face with, so I use it.

With my face cleaner than before, I step back into the hall to find Bumby just walking down it from the stairs. He points to another door at the hall's end that I hadn't noticed before, and I head over there. I wait for Bumby to get there, and step in after him.

Bumby's office seems much more refined than any other room, even with the walls being the same faded state. Red curtains hang by the multiple windows, a large grandfather clock between two of them. Pottery rests on pedestals, and on top of a large glass cabinet filled with books and sculptures. A globe rests beside an ornate wooden desk, and a large plush red chair sits behind that. A small golden bell rests on the desk, its color catching my eye. The center of the room is filled with a long couch that shines in the sunlight, the back angled upward.

"Sit down, or lie down," Bumby instructs me. "Whichever is more comfortable for you." I move to the couch and, after a quick moment to think, lie down on my back.

The couch's seat instantly soothes my muscles, several times better than the hard floor in gaol. Bumby draws up a small chair, grabs the bell from his desk, and moves beside me as I stretch my legs for a moment.

"I have several different methods to help with memories," the doctor explains as he reaches into his coat pocket. "We'll start with one I've found particularly useful recently; hypnotherapy." Bumby then draws out an old key tied to a string, like a pendant or necklace. The key has a circular end, and two hanging sections at the end for a specific lock.

"Before we begin," Bumby says as he holds up the bell, "if things get too dangerous in your mind, I will use this bell to wake you up." He rings it a few times, and my ears ring in response as he places it in his pocket. He then holds the key by its string, and begins to wave it back and forth.

"Now, keep your eyes on the key," he tells me. "Follow its motion closely. Focus on the slow, steady movement; let all other thoughts and concerns fade away."

I try my best, my immediate concern about what's going to happen to me overshadowed by the feeling that this will help me, one way or another. Bumby continues to talk as I follow the key's back-and-forth movement in time with my breath, his words blending together the longer he speaks.

My eyelids start to feel heavy, my body sinking into the couch. Bumby's words now sound like water flowing through my ears. My eyes fully close as I feel a weight being lifted off my chest, my body going limp on the couch.

"Tell me what you see," I hear Bumby say as I open my eyes in a different place.

* * *

 _I stand, once again, in a dark void. Black surrounds me on all sides, but it doesn't consume me like that black muck did. There's nothing on the horizon, nothing immediately in front of me; I'm alone. For some reason, that doesn't upset me._

"Isolating what's bad is important to your recovery. _" I hear Bumby say, his voice echoing across the blackness. I suspect he is responding to what I'm saying in reality, since he told me to tell him what I saw. Funny, I can't tell what I'm saying to him, here; is my mind that separated from my body?_

 _I let the questions slide as I notice a glimmer of white in the distance. I look right at it, and the glimmer turns into a humanoid figure, but it's too far away for me to tell how it looks. I walk towards it, but don't get any closer, which quickly agitates me. This figure seems important, my gut tells me, I need to reach it as soon as possible._

"Ah, this is good, _" Bumby declares. "_ Reaching something is important. It's one of the first big steps you need to take. _"_

 _I run towards the figure, but even that doesn't work. I pound my feet against the invisible ground, pushing my body faster, but the figure is always as far away as before._

" _ **You shouldn't be here, you know.**_ _"_

 _I stop in my tracks as the voice I heard back in gaol, with that blood-filled eye, speaks to me. Is it trying to stop me?_

"Don't let anything distract you, _" Bumby warns me. "_ If you fail to achieve your goals, you won't fix anything. _"_

" _ **The only achievement for you here is a never-ending hunt against more intelligent prey. Only the foolish regard the easiest choice as the best one.**_ _"_

 _The figure suddenly rockets skyward. A foul odor slams into my nose as a white crescent moon appears in the sky. A second later, the moon tilts down and splits into a grinning mouth of razor-sharp teeth._

"You must withstand anything your subconscious uses," I barely hear Bumby demand. "It is the only way you'll truly regain your memories! _"_

" _ **He lies. There is another, harsher way to remember your past. It is reserved for those who can handle pain they've experienced once before. Pain like this.**_ _"_

 _The world warps and shifts; the mouth in the sky now covers the entire ground below me. I can't even scream before the mouth opens wide and I fall into the crevasse between its teeth. Then, it clamps down around me and slices my body into bits. I scream with what remains of my mouth, my voice joining the screams of countless children who were also consumed by this nightmarish creature._

"Enough. I know what's wrong. Wake at the sound. _"_

 _The teeth chew me to mincemeat, and the monster swallows me like a delicate treat. My mind breaks into a maelstrom of confusion, hopelessness, and suffering._

* * *

I shriek from a hoarse throat as my eyes snap open. The sunlight of Bumby's office gives me no comfort. My hands fly to my chest as my heart pounds so fast, I fear it'll burst out of my body and run out of the room. The ringing of Bumby's bell echoes in my ears, but even that gives me no grace as I recall just what it was I felt in my mind.

"What the hell was all that," I ask myself out loud. "What does it mean?"

"It is hard to study the mind," Bumby says to me; I see him stand up from by his desk, apparently having moved there after hypnotizing me. "I've dealt with cases like yours before, in children and adults. They had a secret, and there was always a reason they forgot about it."

I look at my shaking hands in confusion. There's a _reason_ I forgot everything about who I was? I find that hard to believe. Then again, I'm finding a lot of things in this city hard to initially believe. This is a start; Bumby's got something to work on from this, right?

"I see two ways we can make you remember your past," Bumby then says as he sits back at the chair beside me. "One option may feel better than the other, but the choice is yours." I sit up slowly, placing my hands on my lap as I focus on what he's about to say.

"The first option, to put it simply, is for you to make a new life over your old one, since it seems your old life is not wanting to be remembered. Forget your old existence completely, make a new name and reputation for yourself in this life. Of course, this means you will have to forgo any goals that the past you may want to accomplish."

"No," I instantly say, realizing what Bumby means by 'forgo any goals'. "I won't do that. If I don't find Alice Liddel at some point, I'll lose the rest of my sanity. I will not let that happen."

"Don't jump to conclusions," Bumby warns me with a stern glare. "I haven't said the second option, yet, and it may sound even worse to you." I huff as anger bubbles in my chest, and I mentally force it back down.

"The second option is to break through this subconscious barrier," he explains. "Confront your fears head-on, and overcome them through sheer will. This will not be easy; many things about this world, and its people, are best left forgotten. You may confuse your past self with your current one amidst the chaos."

"I'll take that chance, Doctor." My reply is quick and, despite my still-shaking hands, determined. "I _need_ to figure out who I was, and finding Alice Liddel is the best option for me. I can feel that she is important to my past, in some way."

Bumby simply says, "Very well," after what feels like an eternity passes in the silent room. He pockets his key and rises from the chair; I stand up from the couch a moment later as I notice Bumby take out a small piece of paper, a quill, and a small black jar, from within his desk. He quickly writes something on the paper after dipping the quill's sharp end, and hands me the paper when I come over to see.

"This is a list of medication you are to collect from a chemist in High Street," he explains. The list shows a few confusing names, and then the address '24 Arbor Path, High Street'. "I know this chemist well, and he will provide what you need. The price will be covered by me later; you can pay it back by finding a job here, or near here, to start. I promise to support you while you are here, but you need to take the initiative on paying me back for that support."

I nod with a quick, "Thank you, Doctor," and then walk out of the office. Once I shut the door behind me, my headache returns. It's probably from the anxiety of what went on in there, and how Bumby wants to deal with it. I also feel unsure about Bumby's strong level of trust in me, even though, as far as I can recall, he's been the only person who's gone and helped me when I needed it.

I step out into the smoggy East End streets with a goal in mind, but no clear way as how to accomplish it without facing some trouble along the way. Is this going to be a trend, or something?

* * *

Moving through East End is about as difficult as I expected. Every few corners, there is some building that looks like one I saw three corners back. The people all wear the same dark clothing, save for the women in bright apparel flaunting themselves to any man who walks by them. The children are focused on their own tasks, save for when they try to pinch someone's purse, which I notice all too often.

I keep my list tightly clenched in my hand as I move pass a large butcher shop open to the air, the name 'Hardwick's Fine Meats' shown in black on a fading white sign. A large crowd of men stand around the butcher, comparing, arguing, and shouting demands toward him. The butcher is a man with a thin mustache, muscles upon muscles, working shirtless amidst the wanting crowd.

The butcher's boisterous voice calls out specific orders as more are belted out. I stop for a moment and observe his work, curious as how he can keep so focused on what he's doing amidst so much chaos. In a way, he could represent my own plight, and a way around it. He's facing a problem, and he's found a way to adapt to it. I feel hope rise in my chest as I tell myself I can do the same.

I move away from the shop, backtrack for a few blocks, turn to the left, and stop in surprise at the new darkness around me. This street is much, _much_ darker than the past few. I look to the sky, and instantly see the reason; smokestacks pump out more of the sooty smog that covers the entire city here. I don't hear any unique noises from the building those stacks are connected to. Scratch that, I can't even _see_ the building clearly; everything here is pressed up against each other.

I hear a familiar meow next to one dimly-lit building that spreads out over an entire corner. The white cat sits below several windows showing skeletons, bones, skulls, insects, and other creepy objects. I don't want to see what's inside.

A large wooden sign, connected to another sign below it by metal chains, reads, in fancy script, 'DR. FIXXLER'S MYSTERIOUS ELIXIRS'. The smaller sign beneath reads, 'UNCOMMON CURES FOR UNCOMMON CASES'. The entrance door looks to be metal, or very ornately-carved wood painted a dark gray, and made even darker by the black sky above.

The white cat doesn't enter this shop, but looks right at me with its glowing yellow eyes. I feel the urge to go in as I look back at it. The animal isn't fazed by my strange eye color. It then starts to lick its paws and wash its face. Has it lost interest in me?

I shake my head as to why I'm getting so confused about a _cat_ , of all things, and head inside the shop. Just to look around, that's all.

* * *

The moment I enter the shop, I see I made a gross underestimation on this place's size. This place looks as large as the Houndsditch lounge, but it is filled with items that I can't begin to comprehend. Bottles of varying shapes and sizes line the wall behind a large counter, each item neatly stacked on a shelf. A bookshelf that stands twice my height rests to one side, a black ladder allowing access to the higher-up volumes.

A set of three animal skulls, still connected to their spinal cords, rest in clear jars on a table. That table is next to a large sofa that can probably sit three people at once. The room's dim light comes from candles resting on other tables, and lamps fixtures on the walls.

Fur brushes past my leg, and I look down at the bright orange eyes of another cat. This one has a black coat, and no real face that I can see. It darts across the wooden floor with barely a sound before moving up a small stairway into a brighter room. Thin curtains block my sight inside this new room.

A hoarse caw from the stairway makes me whirl around. I see what my mind calls a 'raven' or 'crow' perched on the top of that stairway's railing. Its orange eyes stare me down as it flaps its wings at me a few times.

"Ah," a hoarse, but quiet voice speaks as the curtain parts. "A customer. Thank you, Nanna and Huginn, for informing me."

A woman with a very wrinkled face, hunched back, black hair, and deep-set orange eyes walks down the stairwell, one hand on the rail to support her large frame. She moves over to the counter as I stand frozen by her appearance. She moves to the counter as Huginn flaps over to the counter and lands on its far left, next to a closed bottle of green liquid.

"Welcome, child," the woman says with a smile. "I am Dr. Fixxler. What cure do you need?"

"Uh," I slowly say. "I'm trying to find a chemist in High Street. I think I've come to the wrong place."

"The wrong place?" Dr. Fixxler's smile wilts as she asks this. "Did you not see my signs outside? I tried to make them very clear for customers to read, and understand. The fact you still came in here means you don't _really_ think this place is wrong." I raise my hands in apology, and then walk over to the counter and place Bumby's list on her desk.

"Just take a look through this, then," I quickly say. "Dr. Angus Bumby told me I need these pills from a chemist. If you are a chemist, as well, you can probably give me what's on here."

'Huginn' flies off of the counter as Dr. Fixxler takes the list and slowly reads through it. Her smile regrows slowly on her face, like a seed slowly sprouting in the sunlight.

"Yes, yes," she finally says without looking at me. "I can help you with this. It is unusual enough to fit right up my alley, so to speak. I'll find what I can in the workroom; you can rest on the sofa and get acquainted with Nanna and Huginn. They'll both look after you while I'm gone."

I move to the sofa and carefully take a seat as Dr. Fixxler moves back up the stairwell, and behind the thin curtain. Huginn looks at me from his previous perch; Nana stretches out on the counter for a brief moment, and then wanders behind it. I feel an empty spot in my hand where I held Bumby's list. I feel like I've done something wrong.

Dr. Fixxler reemerges after what feels like a few short minutes, a small brown package and a large bottle in her hands as she carefully moves back down the stairs. I quickly get up and move back to the counter, just as Nana jumps back into view. It gets a quick scratch on the head from the doctor, which makes it purr in content as the woman turns to face me.

"I must admit," she quickly says as she places the items in her hands on the counter, along with Bumby's list. "Your case is quite interesting. I haven't had an amnesiac come to my shop in many years; it just isn't a common case brought to doctors in general. Rutledge Asylum usually gets amnesiacs, so Dr. Bumby must really want you cured if he didn't send you there. Considering what I've heard about that man, I'm surprised he wants this for you."

"Can you help me, then?" I ask this while placing my hands on the counter, the wood cold to the touch.

"Oh, don't worry, my dear, I'll help you. But, you'll have to pay me back at some time, and in some way. I always collect my payment, no matter what the case, and whoever the customer." I sense Nana's eyes lock onto my face to add emphasis to its owner's statement. I don't doubt her words.

"I'll pay you," I reply. "But, what are you selling me, exactly?"

"The package contains pills designed to access the subconscious mind, while the mixture will help you sleep easier. Take two pills before you sleep, and wash it down with a good gulp of the mixture. Nightmares are common among cases like yours, and these will make sure your dreams won't weaken you mentally."

On impulse, I bow to Dr. Fixxler and say, "Thank you very much." I then pick up the two items and press them to my chest. The individual pills clatter inside the package, and the liquid inside the bottle sloshes slightly. I exit with the feeling of six eyes watching me, judging me, and it doesn't make me feel any better about what I've done.

* * *

I move quickly back to Houndsditch, my determination to test these pills making me move faster through the streets. The sun is almost below the sky as I reenter the orphanage, but no one seems to care that I was gone for so long. My stomach growls out of hunger as I enter, but I feel more tired than hungry right now. Nevertheless, a small bowl of soup or broth is given to me by Bumby when I return. He doesn't ask about who I met, or even what I got; is this because he trusts me that much, or something else?

I finish my dinner quickly, and it doesn't shift too much inside me as I head up to the loo; the bowl is taken by an older orphan girl. I take two pills out of the package and slip them into my mouth. The taste makes my stomach lurch in disgust, but I am able to swallow them down after drinking a bit of the mixture. The liquid is sweet and tickles down my throat, counteracting the harshness of the pills and the lumps the form in my gut. I almost instantly feel tired, probably from the mixture.

I get into the boy's dorm just as the other boys are slipping into bed themselves. It's nighttime outside, the window black against the room's light. The bed is quite small when I get in, so I scrunch my legs to my chest and become a ball underneath the covers. I fall asleep almost instantly with the brief thought that I need to break through whatever bad memories I face.

* * *

 **This should be enough, for now. More is planned for the future, as I said before, so please keep watch.**

 **Please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new options as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	3. Wiping my Eyes Clean

**Hello again, readers. Time for the next chapter!**

 **For those of you who have been reading and/or reviewing so far, thank you for your support. I hope this chapter is interesting for you, and helps show some context behind the protagonist's actions. Also, some big plot elements will be revealed, so keep watch!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** Alice: Madness Returns is owned by Spicy Horse and Electronic Arts (EA). The 'American McGee' series is owned by their creators, including unreleased content for these games. The author owns any OC's and custom elements introduced into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

 _A sharp breeze whistles in my ears. I open my eyes, and breathe in cold air. I slowly stand up, and see a dim white light below me. Blackness surrounds the light, not letting it grow an inch. I'm on a circular pedestal, as large as Houndsditch's lounge in diameter. The center of this pedestal has the same symbol as Bumby's key, blood-red in color. However, the main thing that catches my attention is the white, feminine figure at the pedestal's far end._

 _She wears a dress that reaches to her knees, the sleeves to her elbows, stockings covering her lower legs. A white ribbon with shades of black on its edges wraps around her waist. Her long, flowing hair covers her face, save for a mouth that is shut tight. Even so, I think she's looking right at me._

 _The woman silently draws a large cleaver from a pocket in her dress, or maybe out of thin air. The blade glints under the pedestal's light. There are curved markings along the metal, like tattoos or glyphs. The woman taps the blade with her fingers, which produces a sharp ringing noise. She then swings it a few times, and the air ripples in response._

 _Then, she's in front of me, slashing the cleaver at my face._

 _I dive to the side, and the blade lightly tears into the skin of my right arm. Hot blood spills from the cut, and drips down my arm as I stumble to my feet. I instinctively clutch the wounded arm to slow down the bleeding, even though part of me says that won't help._

"What was that for, _" I shout at the woman. "_ What do you want? _"_

 _The woman just charges me again, this time forcing the cleaver towards my heart. I spin away on my toes, and almost fall off the pedestal's edge in my efforts. I have to dodge again, and again, as the woman continues to attack me. The blade's motions seem otherworldly as it barely misses my flesh._

"Can you just let me talk, please? _" I manage to get out before I jump away from another strike. The woman doesn't pause, or answer. I don't question how I can avoid her assault. I judge it up to sheer luck, or instinct._

" _ **There is no help for you here.**_ _"_

 _I almost miss the woman's latest attack as the same voice from gaol speaks from the darkness. I pause, and recieve a deeper gash along my arm as punishment. My blood splatters like paint across the light, turning it red._

"What is all this, _" I ask to both the woman and the voice. "_ Why is this happening? _"_

" _ **You still haven't figured it out? You must be blind to not see the true nature of the world. Well, then, I shall make you see.**_ _"_

 _The woman raises her cleaver to the blackness, and lets out a shrill cry; my mind interprets it as a mixture of anguish, despair, and loss all violently crushed together. The darkness responds with several red, ropy tentacles that coil around my limbs and pull them tight. My bones and muscles ache, and then silently scream, as the tentacles hold me in place at the pedestal's center._

 _The woman approaches me, her movements slow, her lips still. Her hair begins to rise from her face, as if it's come alive. Her revealed face is covered by a doll-like mask with expression lips. Her actual eyes are covered by plastic blue eyes, and long eyelashes. The mask even covers her ears, not showing a single bit of skin._

 _As the woman draws her cleaving arm back, a surge of desperate strength spreads to my right arm. I tug, and break the bonds around it. I let out a wild cry as I feel all my anger, hatred, and suffering over the past two days coalesce into a single right hook to the woman's mask._

 _I hear a loud_ crack _as_ _the right half of her mask falls to the pedestal, and shatters. The woman wheels out of my sight with a pained scream. She covers her face with her hands, and weapon. My right arm is grabbed again, and squeezed to the breaking point._

 _The woman doesn't sob or cry. After a moment, she stands back up and, in one flowing motion, spins around to come up to mere inches from my face. The shattered lines of her mask spill black liquid down her dress. Her revealed eye glows a piercing orange-yellow, the pupil slit like a cat's eye. I remember the eye from back in gaol, the one that broke the ground apart while calling for Alice to 'save us all'._

 _The woman's mouth is stuck in a grin too wide for her face, caked blood along her lips and white teeth. The disembodied voice speaks through the woman with forced effort. Blood falls from her gums with each new word._

" _ **You… will… see!**_ _"_

 _Then, the woman swings the cleaver into my eyes._

* * *

I snap awake, my limbs frozen stiff. My eyes flick around, and see a little light in the room. My ears pick up a few sounds; tapping on the window, a _creak_ of wood, and a yawn from another boy. I have to focus as my body thaws, stretching my legs before I sit on the edge of the bed. My mind tries to process just what that nightmare was about. Each element has some significance.

The pedestal might be connecting to Dr. Bumby, since its center had the same symbol. Maybe the light from it connects to his help in recovering my memories.

The tentacles from the darkness around were under the control of that voice, whatever it is. That voice seems to know me, or someone similar to me. Does it want me to be more like what it wants?

The woman's appearance looked important; is she based on Alice Liddel's own body shape, or is it another creation of my apparently-hostile memories?

I remember what Bumby said could happen if I try to relive my past. But, I can't just walk away from finding Alice Liddel. I'm stuck between two options, neither of them good ones.

I look to the outside world for any sort of comfort. Rain falls from the clouds, broken every so often by a bolt of lightning. It's a thunderstorm, filling the grime and muck-filled streets with water and noise. I walk over to the window with quiet steps, and place a hand on the cold glass. The grayness of the outside world seems eerily similar to the greyness in my heart.

"Oy," I hear a high-pitched voice come from the beds. "Ya gonna stand there all day?"

I turn to see the boy on the bed above mine is now awake, and rubbing his eyes. Did I wake him by coming over here, or was he already up before me?

"Sorry if I woke you up," I say as I quietly step over to our bunk, my head reaching just below his bed. "I just noticed the storm outside, and wanted to look closer."

I see the boy has an ovalish face, bloodshot eyes, and a long cut along his cheek. He turns to the window, and I note his sunken cheeks.

"Bloody 'ell," the boy mutters. "Storm like this means we'll be inside today. 'Least, that's what I heard the Doctor say the last time this happened."

I nod in reply. My morale to face the day fades as I realize I won't be able to meet with anyone outside Houndsditch today. That includes Dr. Fixxler, who I need to pay for what she gave me yesterday.

Thinking about her brings the nightmare back, and I have to force it down. Dr. Fixxler had said those pills would help me 'solve my problems in my dreams', but that nightmare I had just felt like more chaos. Even if the cleaver-carrying woman looks like Alice Liddel, the hostile voice seemsed to control her actions. What's more, the voice says that it wants me to 'see the truth'. What truth is that, really?

I shake my head to clear my mind before I fall into another maelstrom of madness. Thunder booms across the sky as I notice the other boys slowly get up/ They move out of the room with downcast expressions, and shuffling feet. Will this be my fate, if I don't complete my goal? Will I become a mindless shell of a person, with nothing driving me forward in life.

"'Ey," the bunk boy says to me. "Why are ya here, anyway? Didn't ya just arrive yesterday?"

I nod to the second question, and answer the first as best I can; "I'm here because Dr. Bumby says he can help me recover my lost memories, and help me find someone named Alice Liddel."

"Alice Liddell?" The boy's eyes widen as he hears that name. "I swear I've heard that name before."

My fists clench at this, but the boy says no more about it as he gets down from his bed. I follow him to the bottom floor, but not directly behind him. Bumby passes out food with a girl about my age in a grey dress and white apron. The food is pieces of bread, and small bowls of stew.

"Ah, there you are," Bumby says to me as I collect my food. "I plan to have a session with you today, even with the bad weather outside. I hope to use this spare time to help you forget, or break through, the past."

I quickly nod, and move to a far end of the lounge. I sit down at the corner of two walls, next to a window that shows the still-pouring rain outside. I dip the bread into the soup, and it tastes pretty bland. But, it's food, so I eat it anyway.

A few minutes later, I look up as someone approaches me. A younger girl with auburn hair that wisps around her face like wavy tree branches sits down next to me. She almost instantly asks, "You're new here, right?"

I raise an eyebrow at her question. Why would she ask something that obvious? Did she not see me, or hear about me, when I first came in?

"You look different from the rest of us," the girl continues, still without looking at me. "But, that's fine. Dr. Bumby says that difference is good, that change is essential to forgetting your problems." She then pops a bit of her bread into her mouth, and slowly chews it.

"What if you don't want to forget?" I ask her as I turn my gaze to the other orphans in the lounge, all focused on their meals. "Has everyone here suffered so much, they want to discard their past?"

"The past is dead and buried." A chill runs down my spine as I hear the girl say this with absolutely no emotion in her words. She then stands up with her food and walks away, leaving me confused. Am I alone in wanting to _not_ forget my past?

* * *

After breakfast finishes, I help collect the dishes for giving the dishes to the girl in the white apron. I then slowly walk through Houndsditch's halls. I didn't look too closely at the place when I arrived, and I'll probably be living here a while. Unfortunately, there isn't much to see beyond what I saw from before, so nothing really occupies my interest.

I come to Bumby's office, and let myself in. The windows in the office are all closed with curtains that give the room a dim red shade. Bumby stands by his desk, and nods to me as I step inside. He gestures to the couch as he takes out the key pendant from his coat pocket, the small bell in his other hand. I sit down, and he sits on the neighboring chair.

"Don't be distracted by the outside weather," he tells me. "Today's a bad day for anyone in this city who thrives on business that require customers. Orphanages like this aren't really respected, but they still have their merits in society."

I just nod. I don't want to say something upsetting or off-topic. Thunder rumbles in the background as I try to relax.

Bumby uses the same process as before to hypnotize me, but I fall under much faster than before. My eyelids close almost instantly, and I go back into my mind.

* * *

 _Distant screams rumble through my ears, and through the empty spaces in my skull, as I open my eyes. I float in a black-and-red void, the red actually flashes of energy. The screams don't come from any specific location, but I still take note of them._

" _ **You're late.**_ _" The same voice from my nightmare is here, too. "_ _ **You have a very important date, you know, one that I forbid you to miss.**_ _"_

"What makes you think you have control over my life? _" I ask back to the void. "_ Why are you trying to show me what you want me to see? _"_

" _ **Your path**_ _ **has no good ending. Your former life clashes with your current existence. If you don't fix this, you'll soon be a shadow of what I trained you to become.**_ _"_

"Trained?! What the hell do you mean, _trained_? _"_

 _The voice doesn't answer back as the void's screams get louder. I cover my ears, but the sound soon breaks through. Most of the screams sound like children, which makes me shudder._

"Don't give in to your past, _" Bumby warns me. "_ If you want to break through it, you need to overpower it. Show you are not afraid to face your fears! _"_

" _ **Fear can never be conquered, only suppressed. Even then, it usually comes back in a different form. And, 'different' isn't bad or good; it's just not the same.**_ _"_

"How do you— _" I start to ask, but a scream comes from_ very _close by. I whirl around in surprise, and a_ _large white rabbit wearing a red overcoat and black bowler hat jumps onto my chest. Its large frontal teeth dig into my neck before I can breathe._

 _I let out a choked gurgle as I see my blood fly out of my body, and turn into black tar. I fall limp as the rabbit decapitates me with a loud crunch._

* * *

Bumby's bell, once again, offers me no comfort as I return to the real world. His eyes seem angry, but his face remains in that calm demeanor I saw him in before. How long has he been like that? Am I the main source of his anger, or is today's weather getting to him? A loud _barroom_ of thunder makes me assume the latter option.

My body is stiff as a board as I try to sit up. My neck aches from the slightest twitch; maybe that rabbit really hurt me? Granted, it seemed to be under that voice's control. That voice has differing viewpoints on every single statement Bumby has made. I'm not sure whether it, or Bumby, is right.

"I'm so confused," I say out loud as Bumby stands from the chair and walks to the window. "I don't think my past likes this, but I want to understand why this is happening."

"Memory is a curse more often than a blessing," Bumby solemnly says as he takes a quick peek through the curtains at the still-raging storm. "That's why I help many children here forget their past, and sculpt new lives for themselves."

"So I'm a rare case, then? Do you not _want_ me to recover my past?" My fists tighten in anger at my own words.

"Whatever you did in the past must be paid for," he says after a moment's thought. "Every choice you make has a consequence, but I won't judge your actions until I believe you cannot do the right thing yourself. Now, get some rest; the storm leaves us with little options. I haven't seen one this bad in a long while."

"I don't doubt it," I respond as I slowly stand up and walk out of the room. I try not to turn my neck, since it's still in pain. I head to the bathroom to check for any scars, and am relieved to see no actual damage. It's surprising to think my subconscious affects me so much. It could actually kill me if it goes too far. Hopefully, either Dr. Bumby's therapy, or Dr. Fixxler's medicine, fixes this.

I head back into the boy's dorm, expecting to see all the boys there since the outside world is buried under water and lightning. However, only the boy I spoke to today is there, and he's drawing something onto a piece of paper. I move to my bed and curl up beneath the thin covers, closing my eyes to the outside world.

"Oy," I hear a voice from above me say a moment later. "Ya know who's bed you're sleeping on?" I open my eyes to see my bunkmate, if such a term is correct, look at me from above. His upper body hangs over the side of the bed.

"Should I know?" I say this without much care; I just want some sleep.

"I'm only sayin' it because the other kids are whisperin' about it. That bed was for a lad named Kyle Zuclair until two days ago. 'E was a faraway bloke from some equally-faraway country, too silent even for us. Bumby didn't really like 'im, we could all see it. Maybe that's why he vanished when he did."

"He just vanished? No one went to look for him?" My curiosity is piqued at this; Bumby had said that vacancies don't last long here. Did Bumby select me just because this spot opened itself up? I thought he wanted to help me, not use me to fill a quota!

"I don't know how 'e did it," the boy replies. "'E was just here one day, and gone the next. 'Sides, no one cares out there. The past is dead and buried, ya know. Well, g'night."

The boy leans his body back up. I'm left with thoughts about this 'Kyle Zuclair'. The name leaves an odd, but not bad, taste in my mouth as I silently say each syllable over and over again.

Maybe I could take this name for myself, this 'Kyle Zuclair'. It isn't like there's much of a chance the _actual_ Kyle Zuclair is still alive. I also don't think he wants to come back here, if he really left.

I close my eyes as a positive feeling grows in my chest. I want to take this name for my own, partially because I can't think of a good name form myself. Bumby had said to take the initiative on my problems, and this feels like a start towards that goal.

' _I_ _am Kyle_ Zuclair.'I think to myself, and smile as my mind responds with a happy warmth. I fall asleep almost instantly after.

* * *

I wake up to a footstep on a creaky floorboard, very close to me. I open my eyes, and instantly see a pair of clothed breasts a few inches from my face. I instantly turn to the wall, my cheeks burning in embarrassment. A startled female voice mutters, "Oh, I'm sorry."

"D-don't mention it," I stutter out as my heart beats very fast. The woman's voice flows through my ears like tinkling chimes, it's tone like Dr. Fixxler's in quiet power. The woman seems to resume her work for a few minutes, from what I can hear, but I don't turn to see.

The woman eventually says, "You can turn around, now." I do so, and the woman steps back from the bed. I look at her as my heart still pounds like mad.

The woman wears a black-and-white shirt, a black skirt that stretches to her knees, and a tattered white apron with a checkered border—a _pinafore_ , my mind instantly says—over them both. Her stockings and shoes are black, the shoes having square nickel buckles. A dirty white bow is wrapped tight around her waist, and the shirt's sleeves reach her lower arms. She holds a damp brown rag in one of her hands.

She looks very close to the white woman from my previous nightmare. Her skin is very pale, almost sunken, her waistline thin, her complexion dirty. Her dull brown hair is dirty and unkempt, as it reaches her shoulders. Her round eyes have black rings around them; was she crying, or does she just look dirty? Her eyes are colored a pale green; not as bright as my own, but still an unusual color.

"I'm sorry if I saw something I shouldn't have," I quickly say in an effort to right my wrongs. The woman replies with a firm, "It's alright; I was distracted, anyway. This kind of work isn't what I planned on doing today. Insufferable weather ruins even the best-laid plans."

I don't respond, or look away from the woman, as she walks over to another bed and begins to wipe it with the rag. I see no other boys in the dorm room; where did they go? Why am I alone with her?

The determination I set in gaol comes back to me. Its force is incredible, staggering. I feel like I'm on the cusp of something great. I stand up, and stumble a few steps forward before I get myself balanced.

"Do you know the name Kyle Zuclair?" I ask the woman. She turns to face me, and quickly raises an eyebrow.

"Not really, no," she replies. "Are you related to him; an older brother, perhaps?"

My hands shake as I state, "I'm taking his name for my own." When the woman's other eyebrow rises up, I quickly add, "He left here the day before I was brought here by Dr. Bumby. I don't think he's still alive, and he won't want to come back."

"Don't you have your own name?" The woman frowns at me, an action that sends a chill down my spine. Her angered gaze is so… _unearthly_.

"I don't remember my name, or anything else about who I was. That's one reason why I'm here."

The woman blinks several times, and then her eyes glimmer with understanding. This gives me some hope, and the courage to ask another question to her: "What is your name?"

"Alice Liddell."

* * *

 **Well! The story is moving forward. Our protagonist has taken a name for his own, and has found his goals are closer to him than he realizes. What will happen next?**

 **As usual, please read, review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish. If you have any ideas for future chapters, please let me know, as well.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	4. From Monster to Madness

**Hello, all! Here's a new chapter for the story, the longest chapter I've written so far for this work!**

 **Now, just to warn you, some small elements of time in this chapter may be different from the actual game's events. I am sorry if this offends anyone.**

 **Here's the usual DISCLAIMER:** Alice: Madness Returns is owned by Electronic Arts (EA) and Spicy Horse. The 'American McGee's Alice' series is owned by their creators. The author owns any OC's and custom elements introduced into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

"Alice Liddel?" I nearly shout this at her, and then ask it again. " _You're_ Alice Liddel?!"

"Who else would I be?" she replies while crossing her arms over her chest, her rag still in one hand. "No one else I know has my name. Frankly, I don't like the fact you're taking the name 'Kyle Zuclair' for yourself."

"That's not important," I say as I stand as straight as possible, my heart soaring with delight at this revelation. "What matters is that I've found you."

"If you've heard all the stories the other orphans have said about me, you wouldn't want me around you." Alice says this while standing upright as well, and she stands a bit taller than me. Her eyes shine with emotion, probably a different emotion than the joy I'm feeling right now.

"Those are just stories, Alice. I need you for a very different reason. Here, sit down," I say as I pat my bed. "I'll explain."

"You can talk while I work," Alice responds as she moves to the next bed with her rag. "Bumby wanted this cleaning done quickly." I sigh in acceptance as I walk close to where Alice works, her eyes focused on her task. I imagine her ears are listening, though, as I look to a spot on the floor and start to explain.

I keep my explanation brief, and to the point. I walk with Alice as she wipes the beds down. She doesn't speak a word, or look to me, as I talk. She doesn't slow in her work when I describe the nightmares I've had, and what I've seen through Bumby's therapy sessions. Not even my encounter with Dr. Fixxler phases her, or my time in gaol over the constable's concern I was connected with Jack Splatter. By the time I'm done, Alice has finished her wiping, put her rag in a bucket just by the door, and picked up that bucket to head for the next room to wash.

Alice is by the door as I finish up, her head tilted down and her free hand on the doorknob. A piercing flash of lightning precedes a loud _barroom_ of thunder. The sound comes from right above Houndsditch, and I jump in surprise. Alice stands like a statue. Is she concentrated on my problems, or something else entirely?

"You certainly have an interesting tale," Alice finally says. "Many orphans here have similar stories to each other, but you break the mold. Rather like myself, actually. But, there's not enough time to discuss that, now; I still have work to do."

"When can we meet next, then?" I take a step towards Alice, but quickly step back as she turns to face me, her eyes piercing into mine.

"My room on the first floor will be open this evening," she then says. "We can talk further then about the goals you say you need to accomplish with me. We won't have long to discuss things. However, this does _not_ incite any sort of romantic interest. Understand?"

I quickly nod several times, and Alice walks out of the room to continue her chores. I slide back into my bed as the rain outside continues to pound against the window's glass.

 _She undestands._ I mentally judge this as a smile grows on my face. _She's willing to help me. My plans are moving forward!_

My smile turns into a grin as I feel joy flow through my veins, banishing the tension stuck there from the past few days. Not even the bad weather outside prevents me from feeling aglow with accomplishment as I fall back asleep.

* * *

My bunkmate wakes me up around dinner, which is quite kind of him since I probably slept through whatever lunch they served today. Bumby must have been serious about not disturbing me.

Dinner is similar to breakfast, in that it looks and tastes about the same. I move to an isolated corner of the lounge, and eat ravenously. My stomach give loud growls, which is a bit embarassing. I must have had more tension, worry and stress about finding Alice and getting her help than I first thought. Now, I've gotten past that problem.

Alice doesn't speak to me, or even make eye contact, as she helps Bumby distribute the food before taking her own share. She leaves the lounge while Bumby stays and watches over the children. This makes me suspect she has a special privilege from Bumby to eat in private. Maybe she "breaks the mold", as she said earlier, so much that Bumby prevents her from being near the other children.

On the thought of Bumby, I suddenly realize that he never told me where Alice Liddel was. In fact, his statements regarding Alice were always vague. Granted, all I asked about her was that I had to find her, no matter what; does he think that I'd harm Alice once I found her? Doesn't he realize that Alice is too important for me to harm? I thought I told him in gaol that I would accept whatever attitude she had towards me. I wouldn't try to assault her if she couldn't help me figure out who I am!

Maybe Bumby doesn't really trust me? Am I just an insane case, like the two gaol constables said? Does Bumby think I belong at this 'Rutledge Asylum' I keep hearing about? Will he send me there when I'm no longer worth his time?

All these thoughts make my stomach churn in discomfort. I don't eat much more of my dinner, I don't look Bumby in the eye as he collects the dishes, and I don't speak to anyone else as I look for the door leading to Alice's room. Coincidentally, her room is next to the stairway, the door small and partially hidden by the stairs. The door is closed when I arrive, and it takes me a moment to calm myself from my dinner questions.

I knock once, and then twice. The door quickly opens to reveal Alice inside a small but tidy room. She brushes past me with her dishes in hand and the words, "Go on in, I'll just be a moment." I accept her invitation and move inside, mostly closing the door behind me.

A small window gives light to the room, but there's also a small electric light fixture here. The fixture is placed above a bed with brown covers and white sheets. A closed wooden dresser that's taller than me rests to the left of the door. A single red carpet with curved patterns provides a difference from the wooden floorboards. The walls are a simple green with an ornate pattern drawn over and over again.

Several pictures hang near Alice's bed. Most of them are simple sketches, like those I saw the other boys drawing in the dorm room. However, these drawings are stranger; chess pieces holding weapons, a field of mushrooms, a giant garden maze, a tentacle fiend with a red 'X' drawn over its head, and other fantastical figures with wild, unblinking eyes and crazed grins.

A different picture hangs in the center of the wall opposite from the window. I walk over to it to take a closer look. It has a curved wood frame that's quite large in size surrounding a photograph of a man and three women. It's probably a family, considering the varying ages of the women.

The man is middle-aged with a thick, dark beard and mustache, square jaw, and small eyes. He wears a waistcoat, and has a calm look about him.

The eldest woman, who I assume is the mother, wears a white shirt or apron under a black dress, and a brooch on her neck. Her brown hair is pulled back and her eyes are narrowed.

The second-oldest woman, probably an older daughter, stands in the center of the photo next to the mother. She wears a long-sleeved shirt and skirt held up by suspenders. Her dark brown hair is long and wavy, her face oval-shaped. Her large eyes are narrowed like her mother's, and her skin is pale like Alice's.

The younger daughter, who stands in front of the elder daughter and has one of the father's hands on her shoulder, wears a white shirt and dress. The sleeves reach her elbows, and she clutches a stuffed rabbit to her chest. Her wide eyes are more open than the other women, but I don't know why that is.

"My family," I hear Alice confirm from the door. Her sudden arrival makes my heart leap into my mouth as she continues: "I don't know who sent the portrait. It arrived by post shortly after I came to the orphanage. No return address, no sender name. It's one of the few physical pieces of my past that's not been stolen or destroyed."

I look at Alice as she walks into the room. She looks at the image with some emotion I can't define. She returns to the present a moment later, and closes her door before walking to the room's center. I stand by the portrait, and wait for her to do something else.

"Now," she continues as her expression turns serious, "I've thought over what you told me. I am confused as to why some elements of your nightmares and therapy visions are related to my own past terrors and trials, but that is probably coincidence. People's minds, I have learned, are much more similar to each other than we first suspect them to be. It is probable that someone else in this city thinks like I do about things."

I stay silent. Alice sounds like she's thought this through with great detail, and she doesn't fully trust me. I can't confirm this from her words, and her posture is too rigid to tell me if she's lying.

"You said you needed my help to figure out who you were," Alice says as she walks over to her bed and sits down on it. "Well, I first want to know a few things about your personality, and what you think I can do for you. I will now ask you some situational questions, and you will answer them with complete honesty. If you dare to give me a false answer, I will not help you, no matter how low you grovel before me or how loud you cry your pleas. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," I automatically say. I snap to attention as a small rumble of thunder echoes outside. I feel like I'm about to be pulled apart, every fiber of my being tested.

* * *

"First question," Alice begins, her eyes locked on mine. "You have most likely heard of my time at Rutledge Asylum by now. Even if you didn't before this point, does the fact I have been labeled by people here as 'insane' change how you look at me, and act around me?"

"No," I instantly reply, this question very similar to Bumby's questions when I was in gaol. "You are too important to my goals for me to develop any major negative feelings towards your actions, or what the people here call you. No one else can provide the help that you can." Alice nods once in response, but her expression doesn't shift.

"Second question. In my past, I have had to conquer great and terrible foes, solve ancient riddles, converse with cryptic characters, and wield powers that would drive any Londoner here mad. If the time would come where, while I am helping you, I would be placed in those kinds of situations again, would you be willing to stand beside me, and possibly fight with me?"

"I do not know what situations you are specifically referring to," I reply, my words a bit slower this time around. "But, if you were to come under a threat, I would help you get through them. If you've been able to survive time in Rutledge Asylum, I think you can handle yourself against any threats, with or without me."

"You haven't experienced what I've gone through," Alice counters. "How can you honestly say I can handle myself?"

"You're confident," I blurt out in reply. "You don't give a damn what anyone else says. I can see it when you look at me, even right now. I don't know _how_ I know this, I just… do." My words sound terrible to me, and I'm not sure whether I keep a straight face as I say them. The frown she gives me makes me think I've failed that task.

"Third question," she says without any other comments. "If I cannot provide any sort of help to recovering your memories, even if we put give all our effort to the task, how will you react?"

"Bumby asked a similar question," I reply. "I told him that I wouldn't cause you any harm, or hate you in any way, for not providing me with the answers I want. If I can't remember who I am, even after I get your help, then I will create a new life for myself wherever I choose to live. You do not need to remember me, if you don't want to." Alice nods again, her eyes moving to the floor as my stomach twists in realization of what I just said.

"Final question," she announces. "You've said I am too important to your goals to be mad against, even if I can't help you in the end. Are you able, then to handle whatever challenges come your way? I may not always be there to give you my help, as I have my my own life with its own problems. I'm not just some tool for you to use, or a priceless doll for you to protect, and I never want to be treated that way. Therefore, can you treat me as how I want to be treated, no matter what anyone else you may encounter, or your own instincts, says about me and my actions?"

The rain slams against the windowsill, as if the sky waits on my response. In fact, the air here gets harder to breathe. I don't know why that is as I take a deep breath. I rack my mind for what I hope, and pray, are the correct words to say.

"Alice," I slowly state. "I've said before, and I'll say again, that you are the only stable point in my mind. My nightmares want me to suffer the pain of my forgotten past, and London society is full of people that only care about themselves, or live off the losses of others. I will go to any lengths, and face any trials, in order for you to help me learn who I once was.

"I know I need to learn who I was, whether I was good or evil, and you are essential toward that. I honestly can't explain why this is, I just feel in my heart that this has to be done. I trust you completely on this, Alice, but I _must_ know whether you will to help me."

Alice looks at me, the wall, the rain-splattered window, the rain outside—everywhere but directly at me. I stand frozen, my body numb to any feelings inside or out, as I wait for Alice's judgement. She finally looks at me, and I visibly flinch at the look in her eyes, a piecing gaze that seems to strike at my heart, my soul. I hold her gaze with all my strength.

"I believe you," she finally says. "I know how a lost person looks, and I can see that you are lost and don't know where to go. We can discuss this more tomorrow, but I will help you recover your memories for now, Kyle."

"Thank you," I joyfully gasp as my earlier joy comes back. "Thank you so much, Alice. Thank you!"

I think Alice smiles for a brief moment as I continue to blabber my thanks and leave Alice's room. The smile on my face doesn't fade until I am mostly up the stairway. It takes me that long to regain control of my emotions.

The boy's dorm is mostly full after I take Dr. Fixxler's required pills in the bathroom. I slip into my bed's covers, once again feeling content about my situation and what will come tomorrow. I mutter a silent prayer that my nightmares will not torment me tonight as I close my eyes.

* * *

I wake up to light breathing. I slowly uncurl my body, not sure if this is the trick of a nightmare. Several seconds pass before I feel a small patch of heat on my forehead.

I slowly open my eyes to see the boy's dorm room. Nothing bad happened in my sleep; a lucky break. I turn my head towards the window to find the patch of heat is a beam of bright sunlight on my forehead. The sky is clear and sunny, a beautiful contrast to yesterday's storm and chaos.

Is this lack of nightmares because of Dr. Fixxler's pills working correctly, or because Alice wants to help me recover my past? After careful consideration that lasts all of a few seconds, I suspect this dreamless sleep was because of the second reason.

I head down to breakfast a bit later than the other boys, mostly because I want to stay in this moment. I'm resting in a bed, under a roof, on a clear, sunny day, at peace with myself. It feels great. Unfortunately, the growling of my stomach, and a growing dryness in my throat, remind me I do need to eat and drink to stay at peace. I head down the stairs quickly, new energy in my step as all of Houndsditch shines a bit brighter.

All that comes crashing down the moment I see Bumby's face in the lounge.

Bags are under his eyes, which in turn seem unfocused, like he's spent a lot of time thinking about something important. When we make eye contact, I shudder at the _darkness_ in them that's directed towards me, and only me. I don't know why, or how, this darkness came to Bumby, but I feel I'll know later today. A part of me wants to avoid Bumby today, but that darkness says he'll hunt me down if he needs to.

Thankfully, for some reason, Bumby doesn't call me to his therapy room until a few hours after breakfast is finished and cleaned up. He fills his desk's chair with his thin body, his hands clasped together as I enter and stand in front of the desk. I close the door behind me at Bumby's gesture. He gets right to the point with just a few words that chill me to the core.

"I know you met Alice Liddel last night."

"It was purely coincidental," I intantly respond, my mouth moving quicker than my brain. "None of the other orphans told me about her being at Houndsditch. We just… crossed paths."

"Regardless of how you met," Bumby says with a cutting tone just as I take another breath, "I am upset that I was not informed of this immediately afterward. You had accomplished a step in your goals. I thought that I was important enough in your efforts to know what you are doing."

"You are important, Doctor, for sure. However, Alice wanted to speak with me later that night, and I… I…"

"You _ignored_ me." Each of Bumby's words drop like the rattling of the gaol cells. "You didn't want me to know about this, because you suspected I would keep you away from her. I thought I was getting equal recompense for helping you in your therapy, but I see that's not the case. Do you consider Houndsditch, and the other orphans here, the same as me? Would you prefer to try making friends on the streets of London instead?"

"No, no, no," I quickly say with rising intensity. "That's not what I want at all! I didn't mean for you to not know what was going on for so long, it just… happened!"

"Nothing in this world 'just happens', _boy_." I wince at Bumby's new name for me, the word hissing in my ears. "Every action has a logical explanation. You're acting like _she_ did to me; secretive, untrusting, teasing, and-" Bumby pauses in his rant, his eyes wide. He then falls silent for several seconds, and clears his throat twice.

"Forgive me," he then says while looking at the desk's surface. "It seems I started ranting without thought as to what I was saying. This is what happens when someone I trust doesn't keep their promises to me." He takes a deep breath before he warns me, "Be sure you do not do this again."

I silently nod. I want to move, but my body is stuck to the seat. I feel much worse than when I woke up this morning, but I want to know Bumby is going to do next. It seems like I haven't offended him enough to be tossed out of Houndsditch on my posterior, which is good.

Finally, a gesture of Bumby's hand, and the words, "We'll have our session late today. Don't leave here until then." incentivizes me to leave with a fast step. I almost bump into an orphan boy right outside the door. I move back to the boy's dorm with thoughts as to where, and who, I should go to next for help. I'm also not sure what to get help on first; my lost memories, meeting with Alice, or regaining Bumby's full trust. They all seem important, in different ways, and each will take time to complete. Which one to choose?

My choice is made for me when I see Alice Liddel walk by the dorm's open doorway. I call her name as I step into the hall; she slows down as I catch up to her and ask how she's doing.

"I've been better," she replies while clutching her head with a hand. "My latest session with Bumby has left my head pounding, and what feels like a steam hammer in my chest."

"Do you need rest?" I ask this while reaching to place a hand on her shoulder for support, but she brushes me away with a rough, "I'm fine. I've got business in London to complete."

"What sort of business?" I ask as I keep up with her. She sighs heavily and explains that, like me, she has to go to a chemist in High Street to get certain pills for her insanity. My heart pounds as she says this, not because she might be going to the same chemist I was supposed to go to before, but because I don't know how long she'll be gone. My want for her to help me quickly grows strong enough to make me ask a dangerous question.

"Bumby said I've got to get some pills today, from the same chemist, before our next session. Can I come with you?"

* * *

Alice takes the lead as we step out onto a sunny but smog-filled London day. The yellow sunlight illuminates the worn state of the buildings around us, and break through the shadows some of the people on the streets try to cast. Alice moves through the crowds like she's done it countless times before. I do my best to keep up, and almost crash into a street violinist playing some sort of symphony at a corner. I then see his small gray hat, turned upward with some coins inside. The man smiles at me through a long brown mustache, and deftly continues playing.

As we approach what Alice calls 'Whitechapel Market', my heart _thuds_ when I see Jack Splatter talking to a scantily-dressed woman before a store window. A dark smile is on the man's face, his words having the woman's full attention. I move to Alice's side, nearly knocking her over with my speed. I don't look back until we cross the next street over. Splatter doesn't seem to notice me, to my utter relief.

As we enter an area with several small stores bunched against each other, a familiar hoarse meow reveals the same white cat from before in the middle of the street. I almost stop in my tracks in surprise at the animal's return, but Alice moves right on forward with the words, "Hello, Puss! Puss Puss Puss! Don't be afraid!" I race up to her as the cat turns and lops into a darker alleyway.

"A-are you sure this is the right way?" I quickly ask as we step into the alley's darkness, too much like when I first woke up in this place. "I don't recall High Street being in an alleyway."

"We'll get there eventually," Alice responds without turning to face me. "Following creatures into dark holes has become a habit. I hope it's not, or never will be, a vice."

I don't know how to respond to this statement, and Alice moves too quickly for me to talk. We walk into the darkest alleyway I've seen yet, the cat a few steps ahead of us. Archways connect buildings together over a small gap that forces us to walk in single-file.

Eventually, we reach a nexus point of several other paths connecting to a central circle. The windows around us show no light from inside. Alice looks around slowly, probably trying to find where the white cat went. I join her search, but both of us whirl around to where we came from at the same time.

We both see a man in a brown coat, black pants, and the head of a mutated, wild, rasping rabbit lumber towards us. Alice's hand flies to her mouth as she stumbles back with a gasp. I move between her and this... thing.

The creature's eyes narrow at my movement, but it moves towards at the same speed. It's head looks like the rabbit from my nightmares, the human hands long and spindly. Alice and I keep stepping back, until she gasps a second time. I risk a peek behind me, and blanch as several more of these monsters now surround us from all sides!

The beasts get closer and closer, not giving us any chance to slip past, but making me feel too terrified to just barrel through them. Their stench is nauseating, like broiled flesh or roasted organs, further accentuated by their long, hoarse breaths that blow hot air into my face. I spin to Alice's new position as she stays behind me, raising my fists in the hopes I can fight off whatever these things are and keep Alice alive for a few more seconds.

"My stars and garters," an old voice speaks from just behind us. "Alice Liddel! Slumming again, are we?"

I whirl around as the creatures vanish in the blink of an eye. The space around us is clear of all monsters and people, save for the two of us and an elderly woman who now has Alice's attention. This woman has gray hair, a heavily-wrinkled face with small gray eyes and large round-rimmed glasses, a large pink nose, and thin smiling lips. She wears a yellow vest over a dark blue shirt and white dress, the latter stretching to her feet and looking very grimy at the edges.

"Nurse Witless!" Alice's comment to this woman is laced with confusion and anger. "What luck. Twice in as many months."

"Out exploring? You look frazzled, Dearie. Not doing well? Is it because of your boyfriend, here?"

"This isn't—" Alice and I say at the same time, but we both stop at the same moment and look at each other in embarrassment. After a brief, but very awkward, moment, we turn back to 'Nurse Witless', who seems to mock us beneath her kind smile.

"I'm not doing so well," Alice finally says. "But, it has nothing to do with my _friend_ , here." She gestures towards me as she says this, and I take that as a cue to introduce myself.

"Hello, Nurse Witless," I say as I approach the senior and offer her a hand to shake. "I am Kyle Zuclair. I recently arrived at the Houndsditch Home, and had joined Alice to pick up some things from High Street. You caught us at a bad time, it seems."

"Oh, no time is absolutely bad," Witless responds as she raises an eyebrow at me while refusing to shake my offered hand. "But, I do think you both don't belong on the streets. Come to my place, and look at my pigeons, they're pretty birds, like you, Dearie."

"I don't think so." Alice's tone shifts to anger so quickly that it makes me step back as I lower my hand to my side. "Our last visit cost me several pounds, and got me nowhere. Now, if you'll excuse us—"

"I might recall where your mangy rabbit got to." Alice stiffens at this comment from Witless, and I remember the Alice in that family portrait holding a stuffed rabbit. Is it the same rabbit, though? Part of me says no, that it can't be, but Alice doesn't give me the chance to speak as she grabs me by the arm and pulls me after Nurse Witless to wherever she lives.

* * *

The place Witless lives at is closer to Houndsditch than I want. She heads up to the rooftop of her building as soon as we arrive. When we get up there, I see piles of cages holding pigeons covered in varying levels of soot. A small wooden bridge connects the rooftop to an adjacent one, where a small building made of wood covers what looks like several full bags and discarded gin bottles. The pigeon's constant cooing quickly gets annoying, as does all the smog in London's air.

The view Alice and I get from here is breathtaking—in that the bad air quality and the image of potentially hundreds of smokestacks blasting out more and more ash and soot into the air literally steals my breath away. I look to Alice as we cross the bridge, but the anger on her face stops me from asking any questions. She seems to have her mind focused on something else, something that has her set on edge.

"Nurse Witless," she asks to the old woman who now tosses seeds to several pigeons in front of her. "What's the meaning of this gathering? Do you wish to harm me, to send me back to the asylum?"

"I won't say no," Witless replies, sounding like she's about to say some great secret of Alice's to her face. "After all, I've kept the truth about you safe, haven't I? A small donation to my upkeep is all I've been asking, nothing more. Besides, I've got a thirst you could photograph. _Need a drink… more than my whistle needs whetting!_ "

I blink as Witless's voice drops down at least an octave at the last sentence. She steps forward until she reaches the rooftop's edge, the seeds in her hands tumbling to the roof's stone surface. Before I can ask her what's wrong, the old woman's body twists and shifts. Two large, bat-like wings made of skin burst out from beneath her clothes. The sound of ripping flesh causes the pigeons around her to fly off in terror.

The nurse turns to face us, her fingers long and clawed, her face now the same creature Alice and I saw in the alleyway. With a roar, she stumbles towards us, arms outstretched like we're pieces of meat to devour.

"Get back," I hoarsely shout as we move to the rooftop's edge behind us. "Stay away from us!"

I don't say any more before the ground beneath us flashes a bright blue, and then breaks into pieces to reveal a massive void of dark colors. Alice and I fall into it, away from the monstrosity that was Nurse Witless and into a cacophony of sights and sounds I have no understanding of.

Witless's voice mixes with Bumby, Alice, a few orphans, and voices I don't recognize. A series of strange items fly past us, ranging from large teacups to chess pieces to massive gears. A large network of pipes covered with the same black tar and inhuman faces from my nightmares surrounds us a bit farther down. The face's mouths move in silent screams as we fall past them, the pipes gurgling and pulsing as if alive.

I turn my focus inward as a strange feeling of power flows through my veins. I feel stronger, faster, more alert. The power moves slowly at first as I don't believe its existence amidst all this chaos. However, my heart grows light, and I accept this new feeling more and more.

If Alice is here with me, then I'm that much safer. I trust her that much.

I let my heart win over my mind, and tap into the power. An explosion of white mist blasts away from me, and joins the force of a second, similar explosion of power from Alice. I feel my body shift, change, become _better_ , as the void turns to a bright white. The same voice from my nightmares whispers three words into my ears.

" _Welcome to Wonderland._ "

* * *

 **OK, things are moving along! Alice and Kyle have now ended up in Wonderland, where the game's story truly begins!**

 **For those of you who may have been bored by these initial chapters in London, I hope you will stick around now that we are in Wonderland. Here, you will see combat tricks, cool weapons, and many different areas of Alice's tortured psyche. I think this'll be fun to write, but we'll have to see.**

 **In the meantime, please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new ideas as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	5. Blood from Tears, Memories from Peace

**Welcome to the next chapter, everyone! As I said in the last chapter's ending, the Wonderland adventure has finally begun. From now on, the story will follow Alice's path through the game's events, unless I choose to change some elements. I also hope my description of what Alice and Kyle encounter is entertaining for you to read.**

 **However, if you have comments about my writing so far, please let me know after reading this chapter. I do know that I spent a bit of time in London, setting up my OC and his problems. Now that the story has shifted into Wonderland, I'd like to hear of any suggestions you all have regarding how you'd like the story to expand. Your comments are important, since this story is being written with your enjoyment in mind.**

 **Now, for the DISCLAIMER:** 'Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The 'American McGee's Alice' series is owned by their creators, including unpublished work. The author owns his OC and any custom elements he chooses to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I float upright in midair toward a small waterfall. Air flows between my fingers, the currents almost controllable. The sky is a bright blue, with barely any clouds blocking the warm sunlight. Flying dominoes and clock pieces move around in their own slow patterns. A rainbow shines over a large forest of trees with mushrooms for a canopy. The trees by the waterfall are colored green, orange and pink. A a few leaves fly by me as I land in a field of rust-colored grass.

Alice lands a bit ahead of me on the same patch of grass. She doesn't seem to notice me as she looks around the place, and lets out a long breath. The trickling of a nearby stream that connects to the waterfall sounds pleasant to my ears. I look at Alice again, and see that her appearance has changed significantly.

Her hair is longer, and flows with a red tint. Her skin is brighter, her lips and eyes more colorful. Could this change be through the pleasant atmosphere of this place, when compared to London's smog and soot? I'm not sure, and I keep silent as I notice Alice's clothing has also changed.

She now wears a blue knee-length dress with short, puffy sleeves beneath a white bloodstained _pinafore_ apron. The two pockets on the apron's front have strange symbols etched on them. A small pendant with another strange symbol is around her neck. A white ribbon is tied around her waist, with a cream-colored human skull on her back holding the ribbon together. Black-and-white striped stockings join knee-high black boots bearing several silver buckles to complete her new image.

"Very unsettling journey," she says as she looks at the trees. "But, I'm rid of Pris, or whatever she's become."

It takes me a moment to realize 'Pris' is the name, or nickname, of Nurse Witless. I glance back up at the sky in worry that she followed us into this place, but there's no sign of that woman.

"At least the place I've landed in is somewhat familiar," Alice continues as she steps forward a bit, and looks around a second time. She _still_ doesn't notice me. I look along the stream's path, and quickly spot an orange-feathered bird with a bright white cow's head that seems too large for its body. It's eyes droop as it stares into the water, not moving from its small moss-covered perch.

A _whoosh_ of air turns my attention to the bottom of a small incline along the stream's left. I stare as a cat appears from apparently nothing but wisps of air. It's gray-and-black fur cling to its bones, like it hasn't eaten a meal in many days. Strange curved markings, possibly tattoos, spread across its fur, and its tail ends in a sharp tuft. Despite its skin-and-bones appearance, its yellow eyes glow brightly, and its grinning mouth seems too large for its face. The teeth are stained with specks of blood, the ears pointed, the paws large with sharp claws. Its left ear has a small silver hoop earring that reflects some of the sunlight around us as it twitches that ear.

"About time too, Alice," the cat says to Alice in a voice very close to the voice from my nightmares. Before I can question what this cat is doing here, Alice beats me to the punch with her own exclamation.

"Blasted cat," she spits at the creature as she crosses her hands on her chest. "Don't try to annoy me. I'm very much on edge!"

" _Purrrrrfect_ ," the cat says, rolling the r's like a drum. "When you're not on edge, you're taking up too much space." The cat's smile never fades, even as it talks, almost like it was born with it. I quickly dismiss the image of a kitten with that kind of human-like grin; it's not a pretty sight.

"You're no help at all," Alice comments to the creature, to which it flicks its ears back, leans its head forward and snidely replies, "But you know I _can_ be." What's that supposed to mean, though? Have these two met before, or something?

"I'll frighten myself, when necessary, thanks very much," Alice says with a shake of her head. "I was hoping to escape from all that."

"Abandon that hope!" The cat's tone suddenly turns serious, even though it still grins maniacally. "A new law reigns in this Wonderland, Alice. It's very rough justice all round, we're at risk here. You, _and_ you, be on your guard."

The cat turns to face me at that last sentence, its eyes narrowed and sharp. Before I can ask it what 'be on your guard' means, it vanishes the same way it appeared.

"How…?" I turn to look at Alice, her face a mix of angry and confused. "How long have you been standing there? Actually, how did you get here in the first place?"

"I fell down that hole with you when I tried to hold Nurse Witless, or whatever monster she's turned into, back," I slowly explain. "Several voices talked at once in that hole, but there was one voice that stood out. The cat you just spoke to had that voice."

"The Cheshire Cat? How is _his_ voice familiar to you?" Alice seems flabbergasted at my observation. Her mind is probably racing a mile a minute to figure all this out. Her tone calms down as she then asks, "What did that voice say to you when you fell down the hole?"

"'Welcome to Wonderland'," I answer. "Is that what this place is called? Wonderland?"

"Yes, it is." Alice's eyes glaze over for a moment as she stares through me. "I found, or made, this realm when I was a little girl, but it's changed many times since then. Mostly for the worse, actually. If what Chess said is true, which I very much doubt, then something is trying to destroy Wonderland."

"Is this your world, then? You're talking as if you have a connection to it."

"You could call it mine; I know all the places here by heart. This place, for example," she says as she gestures to our surroundings, "is the Vale of Tears. It's possibly the nicest place we could be in. Some of the residents in Wonderland's other realms have tried to claim this world for themselves, and I've had to take them down on my own."

The nonchalant way she says that last bit surprises me. If this is her world, or a world she considers herself in charge of, shouldn't she be more worried about its safety?

"You know, Alice," I comment after a moment of silence. "You look nicer, now. Wonderland's style of clothing suits you well." Alice looks over her dress briefly, and then raises an eyebrow at me with the words, "Well, _your_ new look is certainly better off."

I pause in confusion, and then look myself over. I now wear a black suit over a dark blue shirt and black pants. Two other symbols I don't recognize are etched in red along either shoulder of the suit. Black boots with blue buckles cover my feet, and a small silver cat's face acts as a buckle for a thin belt around my waist.

I move over to the stream and take a look in the water. My reflection reveals that my skin, like Alice's, is brighter, and my black hair is slicked back like it was combed. My eyes look sharper than they did in London, almost glowing with green light.

"So," Alice says as I lean back from the sight of my new self. "There seems to be only one path forward, and we won't fix Wonderland's problem by standing here." She then turns to me.

"I'm not sure how you got into Wonderland with me," she continues, "but while you're here, I could use whatever skills you have in defeating whatever supposed evil that cat spoke about. As the heroes of old say, are you with me?"

"I'm with you, Alice," I instantly answer with a smile. "Lead the way."

* * *

We quickly walk up the incline, the cow-bird flapping off when we get close to its perch. The stream leads to a small waterfall, and the grass where we started continues to grow aong our path. Red-tinted flowers bloom as we pass them by, and pink butterflies flutter around us. What Alice said before seems correct; this place is nice and peaceful. If there's some kind of evil in Wonderland, it certainly isn't here.

When we reach the top of the hill, the river cuts through our path. I calculate we need to wade across it, or jump over it, to get to the other side. I look at the river's flow in reverse, and see a large stone statue of what looks like Alice crying; water streams from the eyes like tears. Alice then taps my shoulder, and points to a small floating, glowing white house that looks several years old, much larger than any London house I saw.

"My old house," Alice comments with interest as she reaches out for it. "Why is that—?"

Her words turn into a gasp as the house shatters at her touch. Her body stiffens for several seconds as a young female voice echoes around us with the words, " _You're part frog, Alice, I swear. You jump so well!_ "

"Care to tell me who that was?" I ask after the voice fades away, while staying a few steps back from Alice. Her face shows pain as she replies, "That was my sister, Lizzie. Maybe that house is some kind of memory, a picture of my past."

"I think you're right," I comment after I mull over it for a second. "That family picture you had in Houndsditch had a woman a bit older than you. I thought it was a sister when I first saw it; that voice we just heard is probably hers."

"It _is_ hers," Alice forcefully says with sudden realization. "I know very well how she sounds!"

I step back with hands raised in defense; is mentioning her family history a bad thing to do? I'm just stating a point, is all. When I turn back to Alice, I catch her jumping across the stream to the other side. I follow suit as our path now angles up.

Our movement up the path wakes up a large cow-bird with red feathers, gray head, and thick horns. It caws angrily at us as it flies into the forest. Dominos of varying numbers make up part of the ground here, along with an old snail shell that has roots around it. The shell and tree are both gigantic, as if the tree grew around the shell itself.

As we reach two small cliffs above a dead-end, a domino flies to us from the surrounding sky and connects to the cliff we are on. Several more dominoes, along with dice, gears, and several animals in small, floating glass balls, fill the open sky to our right. Alice uses the connecting domino to easily jump the gap, and I do the same. The moment I land on the other side, a high-pitched giggle reaches our ears; we look around us, but there's no one nearby.

We quickly reach the crying Alice statue, which stands as tall as some of the buildings in London. Its stone is elegantly carved, the image fitting quite well with the surrounding plant life. When I look closer, my initial suspicion about it being the river's source turns out to be incorrect. Some water does flow from its eyes, down its cheeks and hands, and into the river. However, the _actual_ river falls from above the statue, along a moss-covered cliff face.

A pile of dominoes rests along the statue's base, some of which rise up to level off with our position as a jumping path. Alice jumps forward, but she doesn't jump far enough to reach the first domino. She suddenly twirls in midair, and her dress balloons out and creates a small bunch of flower petals that fall to the ground below. This twirl and lift gives her the extra distance she needs to reach the domino. When she does, she looks back at me and notices I haven't moved an inch.

"Come on," she says. "You know how to twirl, right?" I jump straight up and try to twirl, but I just crash onto the soft ground instead. I try again, and then again, but keep failing.

"Sorry, Alice," I say as I get up again, feeling slightly woozy from spinning myself around so much. "I don't think I can jump the way you can."

"Well, you've got to try something," Alice notes, stating the obvious. "We need to keep moving."

I nod and move to the cliff's edge. Worry about not moving forward gurgles in my gut. I force myself to calm down, to listen to the running water and the rustling of the leaves around me. Alice calls out to me, but I ignore her words.

The same power from when I fell into Wonderland flows through me, and around me, like a swirling mist. My relaxed mind fully accepts this energy as my limbs grow stronger. I hold on to this energy as I back up a few steps, snap my eyes open, and race forward.

I leap off the cliff as white mist flows at the corner of my eyes. I land near the edge of the first domino, the mist fading away the moment I touch the object.

"Woah," I let out as I regain my balance. "What a rush!"

"That certainly did look exhilarating," Alice comments. "I saw white mist around your body when you made that jump. A bit dramatic to my eye, but if it'll help you keep up with me, I won't complain."

"You conjure blue flower petals from beneath your dress when you jump," I counter with a smirk. "I think that's kind of dramatic, as well."

Alice mutters a, "Touché," before we continue jumping along the dominoes, her in front of me. We almost run into a red-haired child in a white dress at the path's end. This child laughs as it runs away, and we can't catch up to it. I glance to Alice for an explanation, but she just keeps moving.

We jump down a few rocks and approach a field of pink mushrooms, some of which sprout up as we walk by. Another glowing house, a family memory, floats before us, and Alice carefully touches it.

This time, an older female voice, probably Alice's mother, says, " _If you leap from that table again, Alice, I'll expire. You're two times too reckless, my girl!_ " Alice doesn't seem to react to it, she just jumps across the mushrooms to a part of a nearby rock face. I follow behind her and notice a pink mushroom with brighter pink rings on it sproust from the ground right by where Alice now is.

When she steps on that mushroom, it launches her into the air with an audible _pop_ and a trail of yellow dust. She lands on a path higher up on the rock. Curious, I step onto the mushroom and launch upward in the same manner. So, the fungus acts like some giant spring. That's neat!

I land just as Alice touches another 'house memory'. This time, a man, probably Alice's father, comments, " _'Amanita Muscaria, Alice, is merely a stinky toadstool. A spongy consistency, but poisonous.'_ "

"Your family seems to have a lot of advice for you," I say to Alice just before she uses another of these toadstools to launch up to the highest flat space on the rock. Alice doesn't respond, which I understand; she's probably thinking too hard about what these memories mean to her.

I briefly notice a strange yellow keyhole carved into the rock on my right, but the hole is far too small for me to crawl through. So, I just get to Alice's position, and we both look at a large pool in a valley before us.

* * *

A large glass bottle with a very thin top is suspended by a cluster of vines. The top of the bottle is open, purple liquid pouring out like the Vale's river and forming a pool that covers a good portion of the surrounding area. A large tag hangs on a string from the bottle, the words, 'DRINK ME' elegantly written in blue ink.

"I've been down this road before," Alice comments as we both jump down onto a solid patch of ground closer to the purple pool. "Good things in small packages?"

The rustling of air alerts me to the Cheshire Cat, who appears on a domino that rises above the liquid to accommodate him.

"Though lacking a bathing costume," the cat says while glancing at the bottle. "A plunge in that pool is in order!"

A glance in my direction from the feline tells me that _both_ of us should do this. I swallow a lump in my throat as Alice steps into the falling liquid, letting it flow across her body and make a few bubbles. Her clothes don't get wet; instead, Alice and her clothes start to shrink.

"My God!" Alice's voice sounds the same as before, even as her body rapidly shrinks down to the point I can barely see her. "I'm shrinking in this potion! Shall I disappear?!"

"Almost," the cat replies with a shake of his head, and a smug wave of one of its paws at me. "But the upside is that, while small, you can see things that are nearly invisible to your bigger self."

I'm not sure whether the cat is speaking to me, or Alice, when he says this, since he looks in both of our directions before he finishes. As if to lighten the mood, Alice then hiccups, which I chuckle at.

"Ah! I get it. Quite!" Alice says this as she returns to her normal state, apparently having the ability to do so now. "'Forest for the trees', just the other way round. Short-sighted is more than a matter of perspective!" Alice steps out of the pool, as dry as ever.

"Your turn," the cat says to me with a flick of its ears. I look hard at the cat, the bottle, and Alice, without a word. They don't say anything back. With a sigh, I walk into the liquid.

The water feels cold, but not freezing. Even so, I only stay underneath it for a few seconds. As I take a step back towards Alice and the cat, everything quickly grows larger. I shrink down to what feels like a few inches in height. Everything around me is tinted purple, the surrounding sounds muted to my ears.

Then, I hiccup in a high-pitched voice. A few purple bubbles rise into the air as I feel my cheeks grow hot. I take a few steps in this state to get my balance, but it turns out I can walk, and run, just fine, save for the fact I cover a much smaller distance in this state. Once on a solid surface, I take a deep breath and just _will_ myself back to my normal height. My clothes, like Alice's, are not wet at all from my 'plunge'. The Cheshire Cat is gone now, and Alice looks a bit impatient.

With a quick, "Let's go," she moves to a keyhole at the far right of this area, with a glowing white syringe to that object's right. Alice moves over to the syringe and touches it, while I move to the keyhole and shrink down. I quickly see some glowing purple drawings on the rock wall; two arrows that point to the keyhole, a large basket, and an angry-looking woman with a fancy headdress.

The words of an older man, far older than Alice's father, reach my ears as I return to normal height: " _Look at how small she's become, she's barely there. A vixen in her hidey-hole._ " I turn to Alice for an explanation, but she doesn't notice my look for a moment. When she does, she sighs in irritation.

"That was Dr. Wilson," she explains. "He was my… _caretaker_ at Rutledge Asylum, but he asked too many damn questions for him to really care about me."

"You didn't like him, then? What about Dr. Bumby; is he any different?" Alice glares at me after I ask these questions, and I clam up before she does something worse. She sighs again while running a hand through her hair, and then explains.

"I don't dislike Dr. Wilson; he meant me no harm at Rutledge. I just didn't think the way he did things, his 'practice', was correct. Bumby is a different story; if there are any memories here about his sessions with me over the past year, you'll understand why." I nod silently in understanding.

Alice then shrinks down, looks at the same place on the rock that I noticed the sketches, and walks through the keyhole. I quickly follow behind. The keyhole leads to a tunnel, neatly carved through roots and soil to not have any obstructions in our path. We move through it, and emerge back where the memory of Alice's father was. We take the same toadstool spring up, and shrink down through a keyhole to our left.

However, a set of arrows point to some kind of purple blossom that blooms next to the hole. Alice and I look at each other while shrunken, and then she boldly steps into the blossom. The flower's petals instantly close up around Alice and begin to pulse in a rhythmic pattern. I unshrink with a quick breath and reach toward the flower to pull the petals apart by force.

Before I touch the flower, Alice bursts out of the petals at full-size. She obliterates all traces of the flower as she does so. I briefly see two large, white teeth emerge from the flower, which Alice's body instantly absorbs.

"Are you alright?" I quickly ask, to which Alice replies, "Fine, fine. A bit better, actually; these violets seem to heal you when you enter them. A nice touch."

I smile in relief, and we shrink down and move through the keyhole tunnel, both of us hiccuping once along the way. We emerge in a new area and unshrink to take a look. A small grassy surface is before us, along with a massive multicolored snail with a giant tree growing on its shell. The roots of the tree, like on the empty shell from before, grow around the snail, apparently restraining it in place.

The snail's small eyes hang on long stalks, its expression distant as it looks at us. I get a gut feeling that this creature doesn't care about us, the tree on its shell, or its surroundings.

"Curious, isn't it," Alice asks me as she briefly looks at the snail. "Wonderland's creatures are amazing, and terrifying, in their own way. Let's not disturb it any longer, now."

I hum in reply as Alice jumps down to a solid surface of roots, dominoes, and solid rock. I follow her and instantly notice a second, smaller tree-snail resting on a large rock next to another tree. Like the first of its kind, this animal looks content with its surroundings. I don't question this any further as a few more teeth fly into Alice's body while we continue moving.

We land on a lower rock face, and move through another keyhole, into a small chamber between where we just came from and yet another keyhole. Alice quickly points to an area of the white surface around us, and I see a sketch of some human with a horned beast's head next to the image of knife. On another area, a pointing finger leads to a path beneath a stack of dominoes and dice; one domino is positioned sideways above the dice to make a gap we can pass through.

After Alice absorbs a few more teeth, we enter a larger chamber with the same white surface around us. A few mushrooms and plants are here, but what get smy attention is a purple drawing of what Alice calls her family home sketched along the white surface. An arrow next to the drawing leads behind a blue toadstool. We unshrink and head over to find another family memory.

Lizzie's voice speaks to us when Alice breaks the memory: " _I'll never have more fun alone than when I rode the big slide in Hyde Park. Papa will take you soon, Alice._ "

I start to ask Alice what this means, but stop when I see she looks angrier than ever. Is she not liking the fact that her family's words are scattered across Wonderland like this? I don't feel good about keeping these questions to myself when the obvious source for answers is right next to me, but I don't want to make Alice angrier. So, once again, I shut up as we move onto the blue toadstool. It launches us up a long natural hole towards a bright white light.

* * *

The light fades as we land safely on a large wooden platform made of dominoes, which leads to a large green slide with wooden rails. The slide stretches down beyond what I can see, and the sight of several floating islands above a sea of white clouds takes my breath away.

Birds fly in the distance, dodging more of the sky-bound objects I've seen here. Trees with various colored flowers grow around the slide, but never spreading onto it. I take a sniff of the air, and find it almost sweet, which further shows this place's beauty.

"Ready to take a ride?" I jump as Alice asks me this, her gaze on the path before us. She smiles in amusement at my startled state, and then leaps down onto the slide. She glides on her rear end, using her legs and arms to turn and get near the teeth along the way.

I watch her until she vanishes from sight, and then jump on myself. The seat of my pants starts to burn the longer I slide, but I am more worried about falling off into the clouds far below than my ass catching fire.

I don't have to worry. Actually, the ride is quite pleasant. I don't need to twist my body too far to turn where I want, and the wind that flows over and under my arms makes me think that, for a brief moment, I'm flying across a beautiful set of islands. I bump into the rail once, but it just stops me instead of launching me off into the abyss, like I feared.

I soon see Alice again further down the slide as she smashes into snail shells that have grown on the slide's surface. Each shell she breaks slows her down slightly, which lets me eventually catch up to her. She even does some quick twists to catch some teeth at either end of the slide.

We fly off the slide's end and land on another grassy surface. A river of foul-smelling blood flows in place of tears. The blood cascades down a waterfall I can't see the bottom of as I look off the edge of where we stand. I don't look very long, of course, since I don't want to have a gust of wind push me off. I hear a _splash_ from nearby, and turn to Alice as she starts to wade through the blood.

Actually, she doesn't as much 'wade' as 'walk'; the blood only reaches up to her ankles. Her steps makes small splashes and ripples, and she doesn't seem disgusted by it. I gather my courage and follow Alice into the blood, towards a large clearing. The blood gets nowhere near my face, but I feel some splatter onto my pants and leave an ice-cold touch.

Once we reach the clearing, the source of the blood river is revealed; the giant skeleton of some winged, reptilian creature with a long tail, long arms with three-clawed hands, some rusted mechanical device in its chest, and a skull with two massive buck teeth. The blood hangs in a pool around the bones, a large clear surface around the dead titan. A large silver knife with a short brown wooden handle is lodged into the creature's skull, the blade itself stained with blood. Maybe the blade's the source of the blood, and not the creature?

"I didn't expect the Jabberwock would be alive," Alice says, either to herself or me, as we approach the splayed remains. "Stealing an eye from someone usually means their death. But, I had to do it, in order to purge my own guilt about my family's demise. Why is the beast still here, though?"

The word 'demise' makes something click to me about Alice's emotions. If her family died, and she's the only survivor, then hearing the voices of her family members probably isn't what she wants right now. Has she moved on from that point? Is that what her time in Rutledge Asylum was for? Is Dr. Bumby helping her on that now, when she has sessions with her?

My thoughts are interrupted by the Cheshire Cat's arrival; he appears just before Alice, on a part of the clean surface. He looks hard at Alice as he solemnly declares, "The Vorpal Blade is swift and keen, and always ready for service."

A sharp _shlick_ comes from the Jabberwock's skull as the blade dislodges itself from the creature and rises into the air. The weapon floats to Alice, and she grips the handle in her right hand. She taps the metal with a finger, and rubs her hand along the opposite edge as a high-pitched ring makes my ears tingle.

"I've not come back here looking for a fight," Alice says, her eyes focused on the weapon. "And, I'm sure Kyle doesn't want to see one for himself." I quickly nod to the cat to confirm her words, to which the cat gives me a brief glance.

"Really? That's a pity," he says to the two of us as Alice swings the blade a few times, a blue light shining from the metal. "One's certainly looking for the two of you." He then vanishes, just seconds before the ground shakes and the entire Jabberwock skeleton crumbles into dust. Nothing remains of this once-mighty beast.

I then notice Alice reading a piece of paper rolled around the blade's handle; she must have pulled it out when she was swinging the weapon around. The paper is actually a poster advertising the Vorpal Blade, with comments like, ' _It goes Snicker-Snack!_ ' and ' _It leaves them dead (as seen in previous poem)_ ' filling the bottom sections. The poster shows the words ' _VORPAL, 1842_ ' engraved where the wooden handle joins the silver blade.

"You hold on to this," Alice says as she rolls the paper back up and hands it to me. "I don't want the extra weight; I already know what this blade can do."

I tuck the paper into a pants pocket as Alice goes on a slashing rampage against the snail shells in the clearing. Blue light streams from her attacks, and each shell haes teeth that she instantly absorbs. Some shells also have glowing rose petals which Alice also absorbs. They don't seem to do anything to her, but it doesn't look like she has a choice as to whether she takes them.

Another glowing syringe floats in one corner of the clearing; I head over to it to help Alice see it once she's done all her hacking and slashing. When she finishes up, she heads over to me once she sees where I am. When she touches the memory, Dr. Wilson's voice comes to us again; " _Fight or flight indicates a permanent choice, but flight often means putting off the fight to another day. Choose your battles wisely, Alice._ "

"I know how to fight," Alice bitterly remarks to where the memory once was. "No thanks to you."

Alice then walks to a path almost completely covered by roots, but she easily slips through. I follow, and enter a new clearing of brown soil and leaves. There are also several large splotches of black tar here. I gasp as goosebumps races up my arms; this is the same tar from my nightmares!

The ground shakes as soon as we step towards one of the splotches; the tar rises and congeals into a humanoid form with a large engine on its back pumping black smog into the air. Its three-fingered arms, and four spider-like legs, are thin compared to its body, and its face is hidden beneath a white doll mask. It gurgles some kind of battle cry, and then charges toward Alice with a raised arm. Its four legs scuttle extremely fast to keep its body upright.

Alice attacks first as I freeze up in fear. She slices into the creature with the Vorpal Blade in a three-hit combo. She also manages to stun it, until a burst of fire from the machine on its back makes it charge forward and swipe Alice across the arm. She stumbles back, but instantly resumes her attack, slicing again and again into her foe. A few more slices cause it to scream in agony, and then melt back into the tar from which it was born.

The tension doesn't die down for an instant as two more of these creatures rise up from other tar splotches. One of them instantly charges at me with a loud gurgle, and I backstep out of its range. I then crash against the rock wall of the clearing, and slump to the ground. The tar-covered monster doesn't waste a second as fire streams from its back, and it bursts forward. I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact.

The same power from before flows through my veins as I feel my body fade away for a moment. Mist fills my vision, and then returns to normal. I blink, and realize I'm not in the same space I was a second ago. I look back to see the monster turn towards me from the rock wall, probably confused as I am to what just happened. Before it moves, I move further away from it in the same manner. I see my body fade into mist, slide across the surface, and then reform into flesh and blood.

I almost laugh with amazement as I now realize what's happened; I can turn into mist to avoid attacks, and move around! I'm nigh invincible!

A gurgled scream from elsewhere in the clearing turns my attention to Alice as she forcefully digs the Vorpal Blade beneath the mask of the other tar creature, and rips it off. She says something as the creature melts away, but I am too far away to hear it. We lock eyes for a moment, her eyes wide and alight with the fury of battle.

She then points close to me and cries, "Watch out!"

I turn back to see my foe about to slash at me. I instantly teleport away, and then do so a few more times for good measure, until I'm at the other end of the clearing. I pant as I look to Alice, who looks surprised. She then _also_ teleports towards the monster, but she turns into a shower of blue butterflies. She swiftly ends the tar-creature's existence with her Blade, and the splotches melt into the ground. Nothing else comes up to fight us.

"Are you alright," Alice asks me as she runs over to my position. I reply with a smirk as I say, "Yeah, I'm fine. I feel better than fine, since I can fucking teleport at will!"

"You should have seen that attack coming, regardless." My joy wilts as Alice starts to lecture me with her hands on her hips. "One of the first rules of combat is to never let down your guard, even if you have a clear advantage. One slip up can mean the difference between life and death. Besides, you don't have a weapon right now, unless you want to try punching these things."

"Well, then," I say while trying to keep my anger against Alice's accusing tone in check. "What's your advice for me until I get a weapon of my own?"

"Teleport only when necessary," Alice replies like she's an experienced warrior. "and keep your enemy distracted. Look for a way to escape, if there is one; if not, use the environment to your advantage."

"How do you know all this, anyway," I ask. "I've never seen you fight."

That was the wrong thing to say. Alice strides towards me with sudden anger towards my words.

"Do you think I saved Wonderland the first time by talking nicely to my enemies? Did I host lavish parties for them so we could discuss terms in diplomacy? No! I had to take them down to my level, rip them apart with my bare hands and the weapons of Wonderland. I've fought, killed, and castrated anyone who stood against me because it was the only way to win!"

I press my back against the wall as Alice moves the Blade to my neck. Her face seethes with anger, her eyes alight with that battle fury so otherworldly to someone as beautiful as her. It seems so… familiar as well.

"You're her," I mutter as all feeling drains from my face. A familiar, white-clothed woman, flashes in my eyes as I say, "You're that woman from my nightmares."

Alice blinks, and then quickly steps back. Her left hand grips her right to pull the Vorpal Blade down. I breathe deeply several times to clear my mind from my earlier fears, but I still see the nightmare woman in Alice's posture and face. Alice looks around the clearing, several steps away from me.

"A path's been opened," she says while pointing to an area where tree roots have been pulled apart to reveal a narrow pathway. "Let's go. Stay behind me."

I nod silently to Alice, and we duck under the roots and walk to a new area of the Vale of Tears. Our adventure has apparently just begun.

* * *

 **Alright, that's enough for now. I originally had more planned for this chapter, but I think this is enough for you all to read for the time being.**

 **As I said earlier this chapter, please comment about how you'd like this story to go. I'll read your suggestions and/or ideas, and respond if I need further details from you. Reviews and constructive criticism are also welcome, of course.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	6. Ruined Vale, Ruined Mind

**Hello, again, readers! It's time for the next chapter. There's not much else to say with this chapter, save for some fighting, and some meeting with in-game characters, so I'll let you get right to it. However, I do hope this chapter is still entertaining for you all.**

 **Of course, we need the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including unused game elements. The author owns his OC and any custom elements introduced into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

We leave the tar-filled clearing behind, and come upon a small path between two large rocks, each one covered with roots. A glowing pair of white spectacles floats on a small, flat surface by one of the rocks. Alice and I look at each other, and I shrug, as if to say, "It's probably not bad."

Alice jumps to the higher surface and touches the spectacles. They shatter, and both of us hear Dr. Bumby start to talk.

" _A flower's purpose is simple and immutable,_ " he says, sounding like he's explaining something to us. " _Human purpose is fickle, because it is a slave to memory. Memories must be strictly managed, Alice. Unproductive ones must be eliminated._ "

I turn to Alice, and she angrily shakes her head at Bumby's words.

"He's trying to make me forget my Wonderland, or what it used to be," she explains. "For the past year, he's wanted me to imagine a 'new' Wonderland, in order to purge the memories of my family's death. But, the new world doesn't seem like a better one. Those insidious creatures we fought against are an example of his changes; ugly, gross, and evil in a single monstrosity!"

"Hear, hear!" I exult in agreement as Alice drops back down to my location, and we press on.

We soon reach a large chasm. Clouds cover the bottom from view, like at the river of blood. The path looks too wide for us to jump, and there's no safe ground to fall to this time.

"We can make it," Alice tells me. "Just use what you did with the dominoes, only with more effort. Here, watch."

Alice then leaps into the chasm, and twirls in the air once, twice, three times. She floats on the air after the third twirl, and easily lands on the ledge. Her movements are graceful, her twirls elegant. Blue butterflies float around her dress like orbs of light as she descends.

She moved just as elegantly, but also with that wild, dangerous battle fury. She's much more powerful here than I first thought. Maybe this really _is_ her world, after all.

I hear Alice call me, and I turn my focus toward my own power. I instantly feel it respond. I channel it, feel it grow ever larger until my entire body burns with energy. I take a single step back, and then burst forward. I open my eyes right when I jump, to see the power's effects.

White mist explodes out from beneath me. My body flies across the chasm as air roars in my ears. In a matter of moments, I land on the opposite ledge; my impact forms a small crater in the ground as the ledge shakes. Luckily, it doesn't break, which spares us both from an untimely death.

"That was… highly overdramatic," Alice finally comments, her hands extended to help her balance. "You almost shattered this ledge, I'm sure."

"Sorry," I say as I feel the rush of energy turn into a dull hum. "I just didn't want to risk a chance of failure. I'll be more careful; I just don't know everything these powers can do yet."

Alice nods, and then jumps, twirls, and floats to a second ledge. She maneuvers in the air to pick up a floating tooth along the way. A pink toadstool spring sprouts up when she arrives. I jump across, but a little less of my power this time. This leaves very little impact on the other side.

"Much better," Alice comments with a smile after I brush off the impact. "No need to be bombastic all the time." I roll my eyes before I follow Alice to a higher ledge.

As I land on the new ledge, Alice moves to one side. There's a glowing blue glass bottle with a cork stopper, the word 'ALICE' written on a small tag, and another symbol I don't understand. When she reaches for it, her body instantly absorbs it. She doesn't comment on this, which keeps my own mouth shut.

Alice then collects a golden bottle that's surrounded by shells off to the edge of one of the previous cliffs. We then see looks like a three-walled kitchen carved within a massive tree trunk.

The walls have a simple pattern of purple and white lines, the floor a checkered pattern of black and white tiles. Blue floral patterns complete the image. Cabinets, drawers, and pictures rest on or along the walls, with a small locked keyhole at the far right. A large tree stump rests in the room's center. Several parts of what my nose tells me is pig rests on a large plate.

To the left of that is the occupant of this house, a woman in fancy clothing. She stirs a large boiling pot with an equally-large spoon. A spicy aroma makes my stomach rumble loudly. I start forward in hunger, but Alice holds me back with a raised arm.

"Just a moment," she warns me. "That woman is the Duchess, the Queen of Heart's cousin. She was mad for human flesh when we last met. Too much pepper in her diet, I suspect; it made her a cannibal in every sense of the word. Stay behind me, and be ready to run if things go bad."

I nod, and stay put as Alice quickly collects several teeth, and a bottle, from behind us. I stick right behind her as we walk into the Duchess's house.

* * *

Up close, the Duchess dwarfs us in height. She wears a dark purple dress that stretches to the ground with curved lines etched along the edges. The front of her skirt is a darker violet than the dress. She wears a large headdress which covers most of her auburn hair, a white veil placed on the top of the headwear. She wears pearl earrings, her eyes shadowed in blue-green, her lips a bright red. She quickly notices us, but doesn't stop her stirring.

"Ah, it's you again, Alice," she says in a polite tone. "And I see you've brought a friend with you. You both may approach."

"Why would we do that?" Alice quickly questions as we stop just within the Duchess's house. "You want to eat me! Kyle would probably make a good dessert, as well."

I sputter at this baseless comment; I don't want to imagine being saved for last in front of a possible cannibal!

"Yes, well, you taught me manners," the Duchess responds without a change in tone. "And, I've lost my taste for mad people in general. Strictly a porcine diet for me! Everything's better with bacon, don't you agree? Of course you do." We don't get a word in as she continues right along.

"Now," she explains, "there are a few Pig Snouts scattered about. I heard them behind the house; go fetch them for me, both of you. But, take care of the pests that block your way. Pepper them up if they do! They need spice, and you two are just the dishes—ehm— _people_ to season them for me. You'll find that Grinder there serviceable."

The Duchess points to a large wooden grinder with metal add-ons that rests on the stump-table, next to the snouts. Red lines shape the image of a pig on the wood, the snout being the device's business end. A large wooden crank rests at the other end. I guess you have to turn the crank to use the device.

Alice doesn't sound any happier as she instantly, and accusingly, asks the Duchess, "Why not season your own pig parts?"

"Matter of priorities," the giant woman replies as a hand rises to her cheek, and her eyes stare fearfully at some unseen thing. "My alabaster skin needs protection from the disgusting creatures running amok amidst the environs. But, one gets peckish. Look, all you have to do is listen for the oink, then shoot the snout! You may like the results. I certainly will."

 _She probably wants the snouts for her dish,_ I muse to myself as Alice takes the Grinder from the table. _But, how much pork is required to fuel someone her size? For that matter, is it really healthy to be on a 'strictly porcine diet'?_

"Kyle," Alice calls to me. "Here's another poster for you; it was wrapped around the Grinder's crank handle."

Alice unfurls a tightly-rolled poster for me to see. It has the words, " _You've just obtained the Duchess's Piglet Edition Pepper Grinder!_ " with a small image of an angry Duchess next to the weapon drawing. The words underneath comment you can, " _Spice up your foes!_ " and " _Prepare Savoury Snouts!_ " I slip the poster in with the Vorpal Blade poster in my pants pocket, just as a back door in the Duchess's house opens up.

To my surprise, Alice turns to me and states, "Now that we have two weapons, you can use one, if you're willing."

She holds the Vorpal Blade in one hand, and the Pepper Grinder in the other. She looks honest about this, so I think about how each weapon works.

The Blade will require me to get up close and personal with those human-tar things, which is risky. The Grinder seems like it can be used from afar, but I don't know how it works, yet. I don't know which one to choose, because they both have their problems.

Before I can make a decision, Alice hands me the Grinder with an annoyed grunt. I must have taken too-

Out of nowhere, I sneeze. Pepper fills my nose, and I sneeze again. Each sneeze makes my head throb like it's about to explode. I can't stop myself from sneezing, and my hands still clutch the Grinder.

Alice pulls the Grinder from me, and the sneezes stop. I blink several times as I recover. I now have a runny nose, a pounding headache, itchy eyes, and burning-hot cheeks.

"Ah, yes, yes," the Duchess exclaims from behind me. "Too much pepper at once! That'll give you a real headache if you aren't careful. I learned that from dear Alice. I'm sorry you had to learn it the hard way, my dear."

I turn to the Duchess with blurry vision as she gives me a sad smile. Is she actually being kind, or mocking me?

"Here," Alice quickly says as I feel the Vorpal Blade be placed in my right hand. "Let's go."

I nod and follow with several small sniffles. As we step out of the door, I swear I hear a chuckle from the wind at my misfortune. Is that the Cheshire Cat, or some other entity watching our progress?

* * *

We move through the door into a backyard, root-covered snail shells embedded into the rock alongside sprouting mushrooms and thin trees with pink leaves at their tops. The door closes behind us as loud hissing noises reach our ears from within the area.

Seconds later, several strange insects start to fly towards us from behind the trees. Their bodies are made up of bolts, their wings shining like glass. Their faces are orange and shaped like a screw. Four tiny legs wriggle beneath their airborne bodies.

"Take these bugs out," Alice calls to me as she raises the Grinder to a firing position. "I'll cover you!"

I race forward, Vorpal Blade in hand as I hear a _put-put-put_ from Alice's position. A few of the flies get hit with 'bullets' of pepper. I have to hold my breath as I approach two of the mechanical bugs. I swing the Vorpal Blade in a wide arc, and actually strike them both. But, they then latch onto my arms with loud hisses and gnaw into my skin.

I teleport back, and the bugs lose their grip on me. I then teleport back into a larger group of the insects with a new idea. The pain from their bites gives me the anger to swing, slice, and cut at them with no regard for my health. The bug's hisses mix with shattering glass in my ears.

When I regain my senses, bolts, screws, and glass shards lie around me. The Vorpal Blade shimmers with blue light. I pant heavily, white mist around my arms. More bugs show up, and pepper bullets fly at them. A few bullets to a bug, and it explodes. The swarm splits between Alice and me, probably confused as to who is the greater threat.

Alice continues to fire until I hear a loud _shunk_. The bullets suddenly stop, and Alice coughs loudly. She shouts out, "The Grinder's overloaded!" as several bugs fly onto her.

Anger rushes through my limbs as I hear Alice cry in pain. I turn to the rest of the swarm and charge them with a roar. I slice and teleport without reason, lost in my own battle fury.

The last bug dies, and my anger cools. I skim over the area, and see a strange circular nest made of nuts, bolts, and metal plates on the ground behind one of the trees. Three more metal bugs emerge from the nest before my eyes. My heart falls in defeat, and then rises back up in hope. I know how to beat them.

"The nests!" I cry out. "They're spawning from the nests! Destroy the nests, Alice!"

I teleport to the first nest I found, and stab the blade into a gap between two metal plates. After a second of pushing, the plates rip apart. I slice at the nest again and again, and it quickly crumbles apart into a pile of broken metal. The few metal insects around me are the next to fall.

I teleport back to where I last saw Alice to find her a few steps away. She fires the Grinder at another nest, and the pepper quickly blows the nest apart. A few teeth are left behind for Alice, and she collects them. When she races over to the nest I destroyed, a few more insects come at her. Alice shoots them out of the sky, moving between each insect with near-perfect precision. In a matter of moments, all the insects, and nests, are dead.

Dead, that is, until two more nests drop from the trees further into the backyard. Alice and I lock eyes for a moment, and we both nod. I don't know if she's got the same plan as me, but we both know how to deal with these things.

I move to a different nest than where Alice goes, deal a few strikes to the metal, teleport back to draw away attackers, and then teleport back to the nests to deal the killing blow. Once the nest is gone, I teleport quickly around the bugs with quick slices to draw their attention. Alice fills other targets with pepper bullets, and a few bullets skirt by me as I attack the swarm.

The bugs are killed in what feels like seconds. Their remains litter the area like the parts of a dismantled machine. Unfortunately, two more nests quickly drop to the ground. Also, two of those tar creatures from before charge down from an upper incline to join the fight.

We execute the same plan as before, but we also have to avoid the tar monsters. I stay a second too long at the nest, and get slashed along the back as a reward. I teleport away from that, and focus solely on the nests. Alice eventually shoots every moving enemy apart with pepper.

I catch my breath as no new enemies appear. Alice quickly teleports to the nests and picks up the floating teeth. A few rainbow snail shells also rest around the area, which Alice blows up with the Grinder to collect the objects inside. The pain on my back slowly fades away as I feel something creep along the injured space and close the wound for me.

"That mist of yours," Alice comments after she teleports up to me. "It seems to have more abilities than I first thought. I just saw it repairing that wound on your back by itself, like some kind of regeneration. That could be your way of healing after a battle, like how those rose petals I've found heal me."

"I'm not sure about that," I admit as I look at my hands, the mist now gone. "I think these mists just allow me to move farther and faster in a fight, and heal up after one. I'll stick with that for now. Oh, and here's your Blade back."

"Keep it for now," Alice says as I'm about to hand the Vorpal Blade back to her. "We aren't going separate ways, so we should both be able to carry our weight for each other. Good job on finding out those nests, by the way; I was a bit too occupied by their numbers to see where they were coming from. Besides, I now know how the Grinder works best; in short, quick bursts, to prevent it from overloading. It doesn't seem to run out of ammo, though."

"About these bugs," I say as a sudden thought comes to me. "Shouldn't you know these creature's names, since this is _your_ Wonderland? Or, should we make up names for them now?"

Alice blinks, and then smiles. I think she's got an idea.

"Well," she says, "that tar is the force that's corrupting and ruining Wonderland, so… let's call that 'Ruin'. As for that insidious monstrosity, we'll call it an 'Insidious Ruin'. The bugs we can call 'Bolterflys', since they are literally flies made out of bolts."

I have to laugh at this; the description is correct, but it just sounds so funny to hear it said out loud. I stop when Alice raises a hand for me to be quiet. She slowly turns to the incline where the Insidious Ruin came down from, and cups a hand over an ear. I do the same, and hear a faint snorting from behind a massive rock in that direction.

"There's the little piggy," Alice exclaims as she races up the incline. I follow her, and see her aim the Grinder at a large pink pig snout that flies in place with white wings. Snorts come from it every few seconds, and our arrival doesn't seem to scare it. Does it even have eyes to see with, or can it smell us here?

I jump back as Alice fires at the Snout without warning. The pepper makes the Snout's nose bulge and grow, like it's about to sneeze as badly as I did. When it does sneeze, in comical fashion, it then flies into a door at the far end of the backyard that opens for its arrival. Alice grabs a few more teeth before we reenter the Duchess's house.

"Thank you so much for the Snout," the giantess cheerfully says the moment we step in. "Now, go away."

I stop, stunned. When I open my mouth to object, Alice shuts me up with a loud, "Sssh!". She then points to the floor by the table.

A large bread basket is there, its contents covered by a simple cloth with purple lines around a green base. We walk over to it, and I try to pull the cloth off to see the contents inside. The material doesn't budge.

"Here," Alice says as she yanks the Vorpal Blade out of my hands, "let me. Force is needed for this."

Alice slices the basket to pieces before I can utter a peep. Four golden teeth, and a large rose petal, fly out for Alice to absorb. The small keyhole door then opens itself for us.

I say a quick, "Thank you," to the Duchess before I shrink down and move on. She doesn't respond.

* * *

We walk down a small incline to a series of rocks with flat tops. The Vale's river flows between them in a small stream. Another Snout flaps and snorts in the center of this area, and Alice is quick to fill it up with pepper. After it sneezes, it tucks its wings in and flies up out of sight.

The Snout is quickly replaced by two Bolterfly nests that drop down from the canopy above. A set of dominoes also flies into a levitating path, but the mechanical bugs are the greater concern right now.

Alice passes me the Vorpal Blade without a word. I take it, and leap to the nearest ledge as Alice jumps onto the dominoes. Unfortunately, the Flies seem to be smarter than before; they now hover around the nest when I approach. I teleport back and forth for a few moments to distract them, and then go in with wild slices at the nest.

The Bolterflies swarm me instantly, their bites like sharp pinches. The pain quickly grows, but I continue to slice and rip with the Blade until the nest falls apart.

I then teleport in a random direction, and end up falling down through air. I splash into the small stream, the water not much of a cushion. I feel my wounds slowly heal, but the Bolterflies are still alive. They come at me from above, but several of them explode from pepper shots before they reach me. I get up in time to face the remainders, and they are easily sliced apart before they bite me.

I notice two more nests on the ground and execute the same plan to destroy them. As I move and attack, my subconscious mind fades away from the battle. Questions fill in the void, one by one.

Why am I wielding the Vorpal Blade so efficiently, when I don't remember ever using a weapon?. Maybe the Blade can be used by anyone, since the Cheshire Cat said it is 'always ready for service'? Or, have I actually used weapons like this before, when I knew who I was?

Bursts of pain from the Bolterflies break through these questions every so often. My body deals with them, and their nests, without too much trouble. The questions end as I see scrap metal litter the area.

I look up to where Alice was, and hear the gurgling death-cry of an Insidious Ruin. I leap up to her location just as she picks up a few teeth at the top of a small hill. She then peppers up another Snout, which also flies into the skies. More dominoes move to pre-planned positions in reaction to our progress.

"I'll scout around down here some more," I say to Alice. "You can go on ahead, just wait up for me."

"You really think I'd leave you behind?" Alice shakes her head like I just insulted her. "I wouldn't do that. Although," she considers as she points to somewhere behind me, "I do see something interesting by that snow globe."

I turn in that direction, and see a snow globe by the first nest I destroyed. I didn't see it there before, probably because I was too distracted by the Bolterflies.

I head to the river as Alice moves to the globe. The river connects to another waterfall, with some rainbow snail shells nearby. I slash them open with the Vorpal Blade and, on a whim, pick up the teeth for myself. The teeth are solid in my grasp, but small enough for me to slip into my other pants pocket for Alice.

As I run to the other side of the waterfall, a section of the rock face suddenly fades away when I move next to it, revealing a small keyhole. I stare in surprise, and then move back; the keyhole covers itself again.

' _W_ _hat's in here?_ ' I think as I shrink down and walk inside. I go through a small tunnel into a small, covered space. A golden bottle like the ones Alice collected earlier is here, along with some extra teeth and more snail shells, which provide even more teeth when smashed open.

By this point, my pockets are full of teeth, and I cradle the bottle in my hands. When I shrink down, the bottle doesn't shrink with me. It just hangs in the air like it's mocking me. The teeth remain in my pocket, which I'm thankful for as I head back to find Alice.

I get to Alice's location, but stop as I see her look hard at the snow globe. The globe has the image of a turtle with a large cow's head wearing a sailor's shirt and hat, standing on its hind legs. It's face is upset at some unseen problem. A small plaque rests beneath the globe, but I can't make out the words.

"Ah, old Mock Turtle," I hear Alice mutter in a distant tone. "You once called me an honorary reptile. I haven't found much honor for myself in the past year."

I guess Alice has met this character before, and she needs a solemn moment. So, I stay quiet. Once Alice looks away, I start to draw the teeth from my pockets to give to her.

"Ah, thank you," she says as she instantly absorbs the teeth. "You didn't have to do this."

"These were in a secret area by the waterfall," I reply, determined to make my point. "I didn't want to delay you to find them. Also, there's another golden bottle there for you."

Alice nods, and then walks over to a glowing white bird feather. My mind interprets it as a peacock because of the large eye on the far end. When Alice touches the feather, it shatters. A firm, but kind, woman's voice then says, " _Finish your soup, girls. Bovine juveniles gave their all for it._ "

"Nan Sharpe," Alice automatically says to me. "She helped my family take care of me and my sister when we were little. She taught me music and French. She claimed I dreamed more often about Wonderland than I studied, but I don't think she ever hated me."

"Seems like a good person to have care for you," I reply, and I mean it. Compared to the people I've seen in London, this 'Nan Sharpe' sounds like a nice woman. Alice smiles at me, and races to the waterfall. She comes back a minute later with a nod to me, and we continue on our journey.

* * *

We cross the domino path, some of them moving into the waterfall. Some extra teeth are there, which Alice stops to collect. We then reach another statue of Alice crying. This time, however, the statue leaks the black tar, the 'Ruin', onto the ground; a chilling sight.

As we approach, some of the Ruin congeals into slug-like creatures that slither towards us with bubbling hisses. Alice quickly blows a few apart with the Grinder as I clear the remainders with the Vorpal Blade. They don't harm us at all, and we press on. Alice calls these slugs 'Slithering Ruin', which suits them quite well.

The next sight we come across is a series of ledges over another chasm. Insidious Ruin rise up to stop our progress. I take point to deal with them, but Alice kills more than I do. More Slithering Ruin emerge from nearby snail shells we smash open for Alice's teeth and rose petals. Tricky little creatures!

Alice also finds another hidden keyhole within a rock formation. She shrinks down for a few minutes to go inside. When she comes back out, she says, "Just a bottle, that's all."

I seriously have no idea what these bottles, or teeth, are for, but if Alice considers them important, I'll help her get them.

As we move to a large open space with a few floating islands for us to jump on, the ground—no, the _world_ , rumbles and quakes. The sky changes from a bright blue to a dark orange and black. Thunder rumbles in the distance as part of the land around us falls to the clouds below.

When I look down, the clouds are now massive storms. Smoke rises from the chasm, along with geysers of Ruin that spew into the air like lava.

The air quality changes next. It's now similar to London's air was when I first woke up there. The change makes my stomach lurch, and it's made all the worse because I can recall how the Vale of Tears originally was. It's now _worse_ than London, because I saw this change happen.

"Let's go, Kyle!" Alice's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. I see her standing by a pink toadstool spring placed a few feet from one of the geysers of Ruin. The toadstool gives her enough lift to float and twirl over the geyser, but it still looks like a perilous jump to make. Even so, I need to keep up with her.

I launch from the toadstool, and fly over the bubbling Ruin. It's heat is suffocating, and I fear getting even a drop on my skin. Once I land on the other side, another spring rises from the ground farther up, with another geyser to jump over. Luckily, the geysers seem to shrink down every few seconds, and then rise up again, in a pattern.

I time my jump to avoid the scalding liquid, and land on the other side safely. Alice is on the far side of the area and firing pepper into two more Insidious Ruin, who are closer to me. I quickly join the battle, and stab one of the Ruin through the back with the Vorpal Blade. It shrieks in pain as I then slash it to bits. The other Ruin is blown apart by the Grinder, and Alice quickly teleports around the small area to collect the dropped Teeth.

"I saw a memory over there, beyond those other geysers," Alice then says to me while pointing to a distant rock edge, two more Ruin geysers barring the way. "You can stay here, if you want, or come with me to get it."

"I'll come with," I quickly reply. "If nothing else, I'm curious. This is your world we're walking through, after all."

"I'm not sure if it's mine, anymore." With that solemn comment, Alice heads to the first toadstool-spring. I follow behind, and use the same technique from before to jump over the geysers.

We reach the memory, a Bumby one, and Alice's touch causes it to shatter like the rest. Bumby's voice speaks out: " _The railway running through Wonderland sounds charming, but inefficient. 'Noise and smoke' like 'Snips and snails', perhaps. Best to forget that train. And a mock turtle as a conductor? Oh no, I don't think that will do at all._ "

 _'There's a railway system here?_ ' I think in surprise. ' _Wonderland is more sophisticated than I thought!_ '

My mind wanders about what other pieces of technology Wonderland may have as my body follows Alice back to the main path. Once we get back there, I focus on what's ahead. We jump up a few rock ledges, and a few trees fall down close to us. Their trunks are withered and blackened, another sign of the change.

We twirl, or leap, over the chasm the fallen trees make, and land in a large clearing. I see several splotches of Ruin, a few large mushrooms, some snail shells, and an old railway terminal. The terminal has the words 'VALE OF TEARS' etched in blue, and 'LOOKING GLASS RAILWAY' etched in faded gold. A few ornate rail cars rest on the edge of the area, the front car dangling over the abyss.

I barely see two Bolterfly nests drop onto two separate mushrooms as the ground shakes wildly. Insidious Ruin rise from the Ruin blotches as Bolterflies stream out from the nests. There's more fo them then ever before. I instinctively move in front of Alice, Vorpal Blade at the ready.

"I'll take out the nests," Alice informs me as i hear her shift the Grinder in her hands. "Keep them off me until then."

"That's going to be tough," I reply, but I charge right at the pack of foes anyway. Just before they swarm me, I teleport behind one of the Insidious and quickly slash into its black pipes. Fire spews from the injured areas as it loudly shrieks and wobbles around. I have to teleport back towards Alice before I can kill it, and I stab a different Insidious in the back.

I briefly see Alice by the area's edge, Grinder aimed at the nests. I devote my full attention to whatever the Vorpal Blade slices into. The shrieks of Insidious Ruin meld with the hisses of Bolterflies in a cacophony of distorted sound. I tune it out as best I can.

My body falls into a pattern of move, attack, and move again. I take a few bites here and there. Ruin splatters on my clothes, Bolterfly parts prick my body, but I don't break my rhythm. Even when in larger numbers, these foes aren't serious a threat.

Ruin-covered arms simultaneously slash into my stomach and back to prove me wrong. I cry out at the sharp pain. Rage almost instantly joins this pain, and dulls my reaction to it.

My scream turns into a roar as I teleport behind one Ruin, viciously gut it from the back with the Blade, and simultaneously rip off its doll mask with my free hand. The Ruin shudders violently, and then melts onto my body. Alice screams something at me as I am swamped by monsters, and my own rage.

* * *

My senses slowly return. I lie on the ground, still alive, no monsters around me. I tilt my head to the side, and then up to look myself over.

Ruin covers my body, cold and clammy as it drips to the ground. Bolterfly parts litter the area, a collection of junk in its own right. White mist hangs over everything below my neck. A faint smell of pepper is in the air, which grows stronger as Alice teleports towards me. My vision blurs, and then slowly returns, to see Alice look at me.

I wipe my eyes clean with my suit sleeve, and slowly stand up. The rage from before is gone; fatigue is all that's left. I just want to lie down and sleep, even among this corrupted wasteland. But, that doesn't feel right. Wonderland needs to be saved.

Besides, I still don't know who I am. That's my big goal, isn't it? Actually, what's more important to me; this world, or my memories?

A slap to my face shatters my thoughts like glass. I turn to face Alice, her hand held high as if to strike me again. A distant _boom_ of thunder heightens a tension in my gut, Alice looks angry and, strange enough, sad.

"What the hell was that recklessness for?" she shouts at my face. "You would have killed yourself, if I wasn't here! I peppered the swarm apart from the outside after the nests were dealt with, and then you had to act like you have a death wish? You don't need to fight overwhelming odds! I think you doubt my strength, when you've clearly seen I can take these things on myself, and survive!"

"You need to stay alive, Alice," I slowly say as I turn away with a stinging cheek. "If you die, Wonderland will be corrupted, and I'll have nowhere else to go. You _must_ be protected by any means necessary."

"Protected?! You're protecting me as much as a baby chick tries to defend its nest, and you're being just as intelligent, too! I'm not a fragile doll, or the Duchess with her 'alabaster skin'; if anything, it's _you_ who needs protecting from being so wild and… _barbaric_!"

My retort is cut short when I consider Alice's words. 'Barbaric' sounds pretty accurate to how I've been fighting so far. I just went to the nearest enemy, kill it, and then moved onto the next foe. The moment I spotted those Bolterfly nests is an exception, but it's only one against all the fights we've had.

I look at the Vorpal Blade, still in my hand, its blade clean of Ruin. Is the weapon making me this way? Technically, it's Alice's weapon; does the 'service' it provide only work for Alice herself? Should I even be wielding it?

Maybe I don't deserve this power.

I wordlessly hand the Blade over to Alice, the handle turned towards her. She looks at it, and then at me, for a long moment as thunder continues to rumble. Then, she takes it and dismisses it from view through some power of hers, along with the Grinder. Her eyes never leave mine as she does this.

I feel a sense of content with this action. I've done the right thing.

A loud squeal of metal makes us both jump as the ruined railway cars fall into the storms below. After we recover our wits, Alice smirks in a way that says she knows something about this.

"Hatter always hated mechanical malfunctions," she mutters. "This disaster is either his doing, or his epitaph."

I want to ask Alice who this 'Hatter' is, but her hand darts out before I can say a word. She grabs a piece of paper fluttering in the breeze, and reads it over. Her eyes widen considerably. I move over to her, and take a look over her shoulder.

The paper has neatly-arranged words written on it with a drawing of the skull and ribbon on Alice's dress.

" _Read this as your life depended on it,_ " the words say. " _Because it does! Gather these "pearly whites" to prevent your premature arrival before the pearly gates. My friends can use the choppers, and you'll improve your weapon's capacity._ "

"I'm confused about this," I say to Alice as she folds up the note and dismisses it in the same manner as her weapons.

"Hang on," Alice says as she draws the Vorpal Blade from within her dress, "I want to try this 'improvement' out."

Alice holds the Blade tightly as what look like tens of teeth move along her arms, and into the weapon. When the teeth migration stops, the Blade doesn't look any different. Alice gives it a few slashes, and I see the aura around it now has a yellow edge. She is also able to execute a four-slash combo, instead of just three slashes.

"The Blade's been upgraded," Alice tells me as I just stand and stare. "I see how this works, now. The teeth we both collect, and I absorb, can be used to make my weapons better. I'd say that certainly makes the teeth a worthwhile investment."

I nod in response as Alice dismisses the Blade again, and collects any remaining teeth she can see. She also finds a bottle on a higher ledge before we move on.

We jump across several floating ledges with broken train tracks, a toadstool spring launching us to the next one in sequence. After a few of these jumps, we reach a cave built over brick arches that the tracks go through. Alice summons the Vorpal Blade again, and chops open the snail shells around us for teeth and petals. A Slithering Ruin surprises her, but she quickly dispatches it a second later.

When we get inside the cave, the ground shakes again. I turn around just in time to see the way we came be crushed by falling rocks and trees. It pains me to see this happen, but I force myself to run as two massive rocks lodge themselves into the cave's mouth. When the dust settles, I see there's no going back.

"Steady, Kyle," Alice comments as I turn away from the ruined Vale, towards a slide that leads to sunlight. "We can only go forward, now; better make the best of it. Just stick with me, and we'll both be fine."

"Sure, sure," I say with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I move next to her. "But, that doesn't make the loss any easier."

"Now you know how I feel about my family."

Alice then pushes me onto the slide before her, into the next area of Wonderland.

* * *

 **Alright, we move on from the Vale of Tears. If you know the game's events, you should have an idea as to what, and who, is coming next.**

 **As usual, please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new ideas if you have them. It would be great to see some appreciation, or judgment, of my work so far. But, I'm just asking, not forcing.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	7. Into the Domain, We Fall

**Hello, once again, everyone! Here's the next chapter of the story!**

 **Just so you know, this chapter will include a... change from the actual game events. You'll figure it out once you get into the chapter, I'm sure. What's more, this chapter includes the use of some Beta-content designs that weren't in the final game, so keep an eye out for those as well.**

 **Now, the usual DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including any beta game elements. The author owns his OC, as well as any custom elements he introduces into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

' _This place is… odd._ '

I think this as Alice and I walk into a pit of sand and hardened dirt, surrounded by orange canyon walls. Gray and white teapots of varying sizes are here, most of which have large cracks or gaping holes in them. They give this place a sense of decay. Alice shatters a few teapots that reach our waists in height. She absorbs the teeth and petals inside, and we jump down to the pit's dirt.

A hoarse cry comes from behind a large teapot on the walls the moment we land. The source of the cry jumps down to our level a second later. It is joined by two creatures just like it; humans with withered and sunken green skin, large noses, white gloves, clocks strapped around their genitals, and teapots or tea cups on their heads. They each hold a large white fork or spoon in their hands like spears or swords.

"Madcaps," Alice quickly says to me as she summons the Vorpal Blade to her hand. "Minions of the Mad Hatter, and keepers of his domain. Stay close to me."

The front 'Madcap' charges toward Alice extremely quickly just as she says this. Alice teleports back to avoid its thrust, and the spoon only hits air and blue butterflies. Alice switches to the Pepper Grinder and fires a few shots, but the Madcap quickly flips out of the way without losing its weapon.

I teleport back as another Madcap lunges at me, It carries itself into another lunge right after the first, and its fork stabs through my chest. With a shove, the Madcap throws me to the ground. The impact knocks the air out of my lungs. The Madcap looks at me from above, but it doesn't attack me. In fact, it has trouble standing upright. Did it lose its strength?

No matter. _I_ still have plenty of strength.

I jump to my feet and teleport several times in a matter of seconds. When I stop and look around, the two other Madcaps have converged around Alice. They force her to teleport every few seconds to avoid being stabbed by their oversized cutlery. She may be able to handle them, but my gut says I should help. Even without a weapon, I could still be useful. If Alice isn't willing to give me one of her weapons, then maybe…

A stupid-sounding plan comes to mind as I see the Madcap that threw me down raise its fork towards Alice. I give a silent prayer, teleport right in front of the recovered Madcap, and slam my fist into its enlarged nose.

My hand throbs from the impact, and the Madcap grunts as his nose crumples. His own hands fly to his face. That's the chance I need to wrench his fork from him. The fork feels light in my hands as I spin it to face its former owner, and then thrust it into his head with wild force.

My aim is a bit off—instead of his face, I shatter his teacup helmet. The Madcap freezes, and I see he has scraggly white hair. I don't want him to get away, so I point the fork a bit lower and, though my muscles scream from the effort, thrust it forward again. This time, I pierce the Madcap's cheeks and nose. Black blood flows out as he screams in pain. I quickly draw the fork back, and teleport away to help Alice.

Alice dodges a Madcap's lunge as I appear next to her, just in time to block the other's spinning leap with my fork's front end. The clashing silverware makes a distinct ring, and the Madcap pushes me back for a moment. I brace myself, and give a wild shove. The Madcap steps back as I spin the fork over my head with deft fingers. Then, I stab him right in the gut.

The Madcap gurgles something at me, but Alice appears to its side in a swarm of butterflies and slices it apart before I can try to understand what it spoke. I pull my fork out of the Madcap's remnants as Alice teleports to the one I injured earlier. I hear its screams of pain as the third and final Madcap charges at me.

I teleport back to not get stabbed. The creature doesn't continue its assault as it takes heavy breaths, its teacup helmet already broken. My strength comes back as I thrust my fork forward in one hand. The Madcap flips away from my attack, right into Alice's path. The Vorpal Blade chops it up in seconds.

Just then, a large black ramp lowers to us from an upper section of the canyon. Another Madcap steps down, and this one has a large plate around its left arm along with another fork. Alice teleports to it and slashes at the plate. To my surprise, the Vorpal Blade merely bounces off the plate-shield without any damage. The Madcap lances Alice in the side as it jabs its fork into the ground; thankfully, Alice isn't pinned by the strike.

I call out, "Hang on Alice!" as I teleport over to the Madcap's side. The creature struggles to pull its weapon from the hardened dirt. I slam my fork's front end into its right side, and it moans. I quickly pull the fork out, but the creature suddenly spins around and bashes its shield into my face. My nose crumples and bleeds as I fall to the ground, stunned.

A series of _clings_ meld with the Pepper Grinder's fire. My nose feels cold as I see strands of white mist wrap around it. They start to mold it back into shape. It feels very strange, but it's a good kind of strange.

I look up to see the Madcap walking towards Alice's position. It holds its shield against the Grinder's bullets while shaking its own weapon. It must be about to strike. I try to shout a warning to Alice, but all that comes out of my mouth is a gurgle as blood flows down my throat.

The Madcap lunges toward Alice, but she teleports out of the way just in time. She then summons the Vorpal Blade and swiftly hacks at its exposed body; it's helmet shatters after three strikes, and three more decapitate it. Black blood flies from the exposed neck as the head falls lifeless to the ground. Some teeth and a rose petal fall from its corpse, which Alice absorbs.

Alice teleports over to me. Her face has sprinkles of Madcap blood, her battle fury alight in her eyes. I rest my weight on the Madcap's fork as I take deep breaths, the business end pushed into the ground. Alice also takes heavy breaths, but her fatigue doesn't show in her face.

If she's dealt with battles like this before, then she must be used to the stress that comes with them. Once again, I have underestimated her strength.

* * *

"There will probably be more Madcaps up ahead," Alice says as she starts up the ramp. "Hatter always wanted guests to feel welcomed at his parties, even if that meant using violence against troublemakers."

"Is the Hatter alive, now?" I ask. "You're talking as if you've met him before."

"I've met the Mad Hatter several times, yes," Alice replies without looking at me as we walk up the ram. "I've been to his parties, which always started at 6:00. I've listened to the confounded riddles he and his companions have spat between cups of tea. I've also seen the Hatter's descent into madness; he was more machine than man when we last crossed paths. He wanted to turn the other residents of his Domain into robotic servants. I put a stop to his schemes, but the fact his caretakers are still here makes me think he's still alive."

"These Madcaps don't seem to like us," I reason out loud as we reach the top of the ramp and start to walk down a higher-level path in the canyon. "And, if they're caretakers of the Hatter, then he probably doesn't like us being here. Maybe we should—"

I stop talking as Alice shifts into a fighting stance. Three more Madcaps, one of them with another plate-shield, step in our way. The two non-shielded Madcaps hold spoons, while the third clutches a fork. The shielded one stays back as the other two charge at us.

Alice calls out, "Stick with me," before she teleports to the Madcap on the right. She shatters its teacup-helmet after a few good slashes of the Vorpal Blade. I teleport over to her and thrust my fork into the same Madcap's neck. It lets out a choked cry before Alice slices its head clean off.

She shouts, "Change targets!" before the decapitated body hits the ground, and teleports to another Madcap. I click onto what she's doing, and teleport over behind her. We repeat the same set of attacks to take this Madcap out, but it takes me an extra second to swing in with my fork.

Once our target falls dead, we turn to face the shielded Madcap. It swings its fork at Alice with amazing speed. I instantly teleport in front of Alice's position and raise my own fork to block. My weapon stops the attack as it shatters to pieces. I'm defenseless.

I freeze up, and the Madcap lances me in my left shoulder. I cry out as blood seeps from the wound, even as that white mist patches the area up.

Alice teleports to the Madcap's side and quickly slices its helmet apart. She doesn't get any farther before the Madcap pulls its weapon forcefully out of my shoulder. I fall to my knees as the Madcap turns to Alice. She shrinks down, and the giant fork flies over her head. She then grows back up and decapitates the Madcap with one solid slash to its throat.

I hold back a moan as I feel my left arm fall limp. It crumples when I put any pressure on it. White mist trails along the limb as I feel the pain fade ever so slowly, but it's not fast enough. I manage to stand up without using my left arm.

"Again with your recklessness," Alice chastises me even as she places an arm around my uninjured shoulder. "I've already explained that I can take a few hits for myself."

"Sorry," I say between breaths. "I just… reacted. A good part of me probably still thinks you need protecting above all else. I'm probably still being barbaric, aren't I?"

"Well, yes," Alice replies with a smile. "But I now see you can listen to orders in a fight. That teamwork we did just now was quite effective, since we focused our efforts on one foe at a time. That's one tactic I figured out the last time I was here, when I didn't have people like you helping me out."

I manage to smile at this compliment, and Alice helps me walk along the dirt path.

We pass by many more broken pots, as well as the rusted form of a massive metal humanoid, what Alice calls an 'Automaton' when she sees it. What creeps me out about the latter is the small human skeleton inside the Automaton's chest. Some broken levers are nestled around its hunched form, which makes me suspect the human was piloting the Automaton. Alice doesn't comment about these machines, so we just move on as best we can.

A toadstool spring emerges from the ground as we approach a large cliff wall. Alice lets me go first, and the impact from landing makes me wince, but not fall to the ground in agony. Alice lands next to me, and we both go down to a lower path section next to a large chasm. Several of those purple blossoms from the Vale are here, but there isn't any visible path across the chasm.

"Ah, more Shrinking Violets," Alice comments. "You can use those to heal up, like they did for me back in the Vale. I'll look for any hidden clues while you do so."

I nod and step into the middle of a blossom as my shoulder and arm throb once again. I see Alice look closely at the chasm before I shrink down into the plant.

The Violet's petals instantly envelop me. They rub along my body in a pulsing pattern. Their touch feels like warm water, or a comforting blanket. I sigh in pleasure as I feel my throbs quickly diminish into aches, then into a stiffness in the joint, and finally vanish altogether. New energy spreads through my body. I feel like a new person.

I will myself to my full height. My growth breaks the Violet apart in the same way Alice did. Three white teeth lay among the plant's remains, which I pick up and cradle in one hand for Alice.

Speaking of Alice, she emerges from a hidden keyhole a moment later. She absorbs the teeth with a quick, "Thank you," before going on to shrink into the other Violets, heal up, and collect their teeth. No sense in leaving any behind, I guess.

"I've seen a path we can cross if we shrink down," she tells me once her collecting is done. "Just follow me, and stay small."

I follow Alice's lead. My Shrink Sense lets me see a narrow path made of purple chalk and flower petals that stretches across the chasm to some unseen spot on the far right. Alice steps onto the path, and I follow behind. I look down once, and instantly regret it when I don't see a bottom.

I turn my gaze towards Alice and her calculated movement across the path. Her body absorbs some teeth placed along the way as she walks. I then look to the cliff walls and see a few chalk drawings. I skim them over, not too impressed by their quality.

We reach the path's end and return to our normal size. The cliff path we now stand on turns left, the sky a bit darker. A floating white bottle is before us, and I hear a huff from Alice.

"A gin bottle," she says as her fists clench. "This is obviously Pris; she has a terrible gin addiction, like many lower-class Londoners I've seen."

"Actually," I comment as I recall when I first woke up in London. "I saw someone in an alleyway with a bottle of rum in their hands. I'm not sure if more people drink rum or gin, but gin shouldn't be the only drink that Londoners have."

"Well, of course rum is popular," Alice says with a sing-song tone. "It's the drink of fishers, corrupt cops, and fools who can't support their own damn upkeep. I'm just stating that Pris, like many of the poor in London, find gin as a better comforter than any other drink, rum included."

"Didn't mean to start a war, Alice," I mutter as I turn away from her.

She touches the Pris memory, which causes Pris's voice to ring out, " _It could have happened that way, Alice. You remember poor Mr. Kooks? Died, didn't he? Dr. Wilson rejects spontaneous combustion, but I trust Mr. Dickens._ "

I have no idea as to what Pris is talking about, but the way she says it makes me want to punch her off her feet. Her words make me cringe, the tone of her voice sounding like she knows what _really_ happened, or what she considers to be absolutely right. She had seemed nice in London, before she turned into that monstrosity, but her voice now sounds _horrid_.

* * *

We walk along the path, and I stop in dead shock at what I see next. The cliff ends into a massive open space of dark sky, reds and greens mixing with blacks and grays.

Several buildings float in the air with spiked roofs and dark colors. The largest of these buildings rests in the center, a fortress of black, gray, and red. The smaller buildings look like towers as they hang independently alongside the main building. Gears, teapots, and scrap metal float in long arcs around the buildings, like the objects in the Vale.

Very faint _clangs_ of metal on metal reach my ears from this distance. Other than that, the place is almost silent. There is the oink of a Pig Snout to my left, and Alice gets on that quickly. When the Snout sneezes, a few columns of stone break off and float apart from the cliff. A breadbasket appears on the farthest column away. Alice goes off to collect the goods while I continue to look over the sight before me.

I feel my spine tingle as my hands shake. I don't know what's in this factory-like set of buildings and floating machinery. Maybe this is where those Bolterflies come from? Those foes have been annoying, and it would feel good to get rid of their birthing place. On the other hand, this might be the spot the Madcaps call home, and they aren't welcoming to us.

Then again, are we actually invading their domain, or reclaiming it from them? Who is the—

"Stop gawking, Kyle! You look like a fish out of water!"

I let out an "Eeep!" as I hear Alice say this. She chuckles at my surprise, and then shakes her head like she finds this funny. I feel embarrassment well up in my chest, but Alice's humor makes that turn into confusion.

"Sorry," Alice says after several moments of laughter. "I just needed something simple and funny like that right now. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to honestly laugh. I so rarely get that chance these days."

"You're… welcome?" I raise my eyebrows as I say this. If Alice really does need this humor, I'm fine with that, but the face this laughter is so different from her normal expression.

Thankfully, Alice doesn't laugh for much longer and quickly regains her normal composure. With a quick, "Let's go," we move towards a large metal platform that connects to the cliff by a set of metal stairs.

The platform has a faded clock design etched into the metal. The whistling wind that blows across the platform feels cold as ice against my hands. The only things on the platform are a long wire that stretches towards the awe-striking building from a large pole on the platform, and a large ornamental horn that points toward the building. There's no way I can see for us to get across.

"See any way for us to get over there?" I ask Alice as I point to the citadel before us. She doesn't answer verbally, but I see her smirk at the horn.

"My parents never wanted me to play the horn," Alice says as she walks over to the instrument. "But, it probably won't hurt to indulge my curiosity just once."

I don't ask Alice exactly what this 'curiosity' meant to her family. Alice looks over the horn before she takes a deep breath and blows down the mouthpiece.

A bellowing roar of a note resounds across the chasm. The entire platform shakes from vibrations, and I fall on my ass. The note bounces off the cliff walls and in my ears for several seconds, but no apparent response comes from the floating structure before us. I turn to Alice as she steps back from the horn, a pleased smile on her face.

Soon, I hear a repeating _squeak_ of machinery that gets closer and closer to us. Soon after, I see a carriage in the shape of a large teapot move along the wire by a series of gears that connect the body to the wire. The carriage comes quickly towards us, and I step aside as it stops on the platform. The carriage has simple large glass windows and metal seats.

A pair of doors on the right side automatically slide open, a set of stairs extending onto the platform's surface.

"A-after you, Alice," I get out with a slight bow towards her. She bows back with a, "Thank you, sir," and walks into the carriage.

I step inside as Alice moves to the side of the carriage that faces the tower. The stairs retract automatically, the doors close themselves, and the carriage moves along the wire with a rhythmic _click-click_ of gears.

* * *

The carriage travels along the wire at a steady pace. The only thing keeping us from falling to the black abyss below is the metal floor Alice and I stand on. The few floating gears that pass us, along with a bird my mind automatically registers as a 'dodo', don't come close to our ride.

"The Hatter's Domain," Alice says as we both look at the set of buildings as they grow larger in front of us. "Almost as I remember it."

"Appearances, as you know better than most, can be deceiving, Alice." This comes from the Cheshire Cat as he materializes in front of us while still being in the carriage. "Much has changed since your last visit."

"Dr. Bumby says that change is constructive," Alice replies. "That different is good."

"Different denotes neither bad nor good, but it certainly means 'not the same'. Find the Hatter," The cat insists as he looks at me, as well as Alice. "He knows more about 'different' than either of you."

"But," Alice quickly asks. "Does he know more about the difference between bad and good?"

The Cat narrows its eyes just before a loud _crash_ comes from the glass around us. I look outside and my stomach lurches. A group of Bolterflies now surround the carriage, a small spiderweb crack in one of the windows. I see another one form as a second Bolterfly rams itself into the carriage. These things are actually trying to break the carriage apart and kill us!

"Making _more_ friends, Alice?" The Cheshire Cat speaks as calmly as ever as he looks at the Bolterfy's efforts. "You're as randomly lethal and entirely confused as you ever were."

"We've managed so far without you, Cat," Alice counters as the carriage starts to shake from the constant barrage of Bolterflies. "Return to whatever hovel's home to you. We'll call if we need you."

"Predictably rash!" The Cat looks at me after he says this, like he's chastising _me_ for Alice being this way. "It's not a matter of 'if', Alice, it's ' _when_ '. Now, both of you hold on and, as they say, "shut up"."

He then vanishes from sight, just as the carriage rocks wildly on the wire.

"So typical," Alice mutters as she grabs hold of a pole on the carriage's ceiling. "Hang on to something, Kyle; this entrance isn't going to be graceful!"

I grab on the same pole as the cracks grow larger and the Bolterfly attacks grow stronger. The flies then pull back, which lets me see we are about to crash into a large stone wall. This doesn't make the situation any better. I grab onto the pole like my life depends on it—which it kind of does, actually.

Unfortunately, the force of the impact sends me flying. I hear Alice scream slightly as the wall around us crumbles from the carriage's force. The front end of the carriage breaks apart on impact. I slide out of Alice's reach and, to my absolute horror, over the platform's edge.

The sheer terror of falling to my apparent death makes my mind and body shut down before I register any sort of landing.

* * *

I wake up to a loud rumbling noise. My nostrils tingle with a spicy fragrance as throbs of pain spread from several points on my body. The pain is enough for me to open my eyes and see some kind of box-like device above me. Before I can take a breath, the box opens up and drops countless pieces of metal from inside it on top of me.

I quickly roll to one side. The metal falls at the top of a large pile of similar metals that I tumble down. I hit a metal wall with a jarring _thud_. A long, low moan escapes my lips as I feel the throbs return with greater force. I curl up and try to breathe through the pain, which takes several seconds.

Dim light comes from large lamps on a distant ceiling above, the box-device gone from view. I barely make out some kind of rail, like the wire the carriage was on, positioned with metal beams below the light. The light is also bright enough to reveal just what kind of metal the pile is made up of. It actually isn't all metal; broken pieces of plates, oversized silverware, teapots, pipes and levers lie together in this mismatched assortment of materials.

I slowly stand up, my back against the wall as I feel something crunch beneath my feet. I look down to see I've inadvertently shattered a piece of a large, ornate plate into even smaller pieces. I then see my footwear has changed from when I was in the Vale of Tears. I look myself over, and realize all my clothing has changed.

I now wear a simple gray shirt with the sleeves ripped off, black pants with scuffed ends, and metal boots made up of overlapping plates that rise to my knees. My hands and wrists are covered by white fabric gloves with black gear symbols sown into where the back of my hand would be. I pat along my body to find if anything else changed, and discover a small chain around my neck, with a silver coin holding it together. I raise the coin up to the light and see one side has a large gear carved into the metal, while the other has the grinning face of the Cheshire Cat.

I look back up at the light, and gawk at the actual size of the pile. The top rises up to a single point, even though I don't know how deep this pile goes. I see the other walls have an equal amount of metal by them. This must be some kind of pit. Apparently, the Hatter doesn't care about organization when discarding things he, or she, doesn't want anymore.

The chaos I saw on the London streets seems similar to this, but that was a city full of people. From what I saw from outside, this place looks like a factory, so there's a difference.

I start to walk towards the top of the pile. I don't sink into the mess I step on, but I have to watch where I step. Someting sharp might pierce through the boots and injure my feet. A distant rumble reaches my ears every few seconds from beyond the wall. Maybe that's the box-device coming to deposit more metal to the pile?

I soon have to use my hands to grab perches for me to climb up the pile. Many of the things I could grab have sharp ends poking out. My progress slows as I climb up the pile, and it finally stops a bit before the top when I can't find a handhold that won't rip my hand apart when I grab it.

I stand there, balanced on the pile of discarded metal and scrap with no good way to go up, and no desire to discard all the progress I've made by going back down. It then finally hits me that I'm all alone here.

I was so occupied before now with finding out where I was, and how my clothing has changed, that I didn't think about where Alice is. She didn't fall down here with me, from what I can see, so she's probably somewhere else in this Domain by now. She can certainly take care of herself, especially since she has all the weapons we've collected so far at her disposal. But, that leaves me all the weaker without her. Do I need more protecting from this place's threats than her?

"Scrounging through trash usually has a negative impact on one's reputation, you know."

A familiar voice says this in a mocking tone from farther up the pile. I look up to see the Cheshire Cat above me, his eyes and grin both very wide.

"This is the best option I've got," I respond as calmly as I can. "I don't know where Alice is, some box machine almost dropped more of this metal on me, and I need to find a way out of this pile."

The Cat doesn't change his expression, which prompts me to then ask, "I don't suppose _you_ can help me with this?"

"Perhaps I could," the skin-and-bones feline replies with a flick of his ears. "But information as valuable as that needs something to be given in return. What do you have that could equal it?"

"… I don't know," I say after a moment's thought. "But, you've been following our progress through the Vale, so you also saw us fight the Madcaps as well. You've seen I can fight alongside Alice. You can help me find her again!"

"A 'barbarian' such as yourself only needs his own strength and wit to survive in the wasteland." The Cat's words make me wince as I realize he's also seen how Alice thinks of my fighting skills.

"Allies are few and far in between for those suited to the wild," he continues. "Beasts such as myself, as a pristine example, don't have many friends because they can get in the way of our next meal. Only the strong survive in the jungle, or even the corrupted city."

"But, I am strong, Cheshire! I can fight these foes, especially with Alice, as a team. That's why I need to find her; her skills compliment mine!"

"True heroes don't rely on the skills of others," the Cat instantly responds, his ears flat against his head as he bares his teeth at me. "When your back is to the wall, the only person you can truly rely on is yourself. Alice found that out when she had to defeat the Red Queen all on her own. Heroes of legend like her build their destinies from the bottom up."

The Cat vanishes just as something moves in front of the ceiling lights and darkens the entire area. I jump back as another pile of scrap metal, plates, and teapots falls onto where I was.

All my progress is lost as I fall back the way I came. I land hard against the wall for a second time. I let out an angry shout as I quickly get up, brush off any bits on me, and start to walk back up to the pile's top.

' _Damn Cat tricked me,_ ' I think as I strain my muscles to give me more lift and climb quicker. ' _I was almost to the top, and then he just HAD to distract me with a conversation about Alice and her trials. I don't need to hear that right now; I need to get out of here. I need my own power, my own strength, my own—_ '

I stop as I feel something in the pile _throb_ beneath me. A few seconds later, I feel the _throb_ again. I feel like I can reach in and touch it, but I don't see anything that marks where this feeling is coming from. I take a chance and start feeling around the pile with one hand.

I push aside some old clock faces, shards of plates, and dig in between the fingers of a metal hand, and feel something that _throbs_ in my hand as I touch it. It feels long and thin, but there's some weight at the end. I give this thing a tug, and it shifts slightly in place. I tug harder, and it starts to move towards me. It _throbs_ again as I tug harder and harder, but it doesn't budge.

I choose to take a risk, and grab it with both hands. I pull with as much strength as I can give without falling back down the pile.

The _throbs_ come quicker, like this thing is building up power the more I tug at it. With one final tug, it pops out into my hands. I press my hands further down the object, and my fingers brush a switch that I press automatically. The _throbs_ turn to pounding energy as the pile around me explodes.

I am consumed in fire, sound, and a picture of my past…

* * *

 _I run along metal halls. Everything around me is a threat. Anything can be behind them. Luckily, the noise and light from elsewhere in this place make my pounding bare feet silent by comparison. I shiver in my straitjacket, my arms bound and useless in my efforts to escape the crazed plans of the Mad Hatter._

 _That man—no, that_ monster _, has gone too far with his experiments. He's created things that shouldn't exist, and done things no sane, or even slightly-mad being, would ever allow. He's mad, insane, completely bonkers. More so than me, or the many other prisoners of his twisted schemes._

 _A loud_ hiss _from above interrupts my thoughts as I stumble upon a room filled with potions and vials propped on tables and cabinets. I look up to the ceiling and scream as a spider three times my size with a human mask on its back drops on top of me and pins me to the floor. I try to roll away, but I feel the spider's fangs pierce my skin and inject its venom inside me._

 _Wild strength makes me lash out with my legs, and I kick the spider in its actual face. The creature chitters wildly before picking up my body and throwing me into one of the potion cabinets._ _The potions shatter as my body buckles the wooden structure. Their contents spill on me and warp my senses._

 _My straitjacket bursts apart as my arms turn to white dust that flies into the air and billows like a storm cloud. I feel my skin crackle and turn to dust as my screams fade to nothingness…_

* * *

The room seems brighter as I open my eyes. I lie on my back, still on top of the scrap pile. The images I just saw don't make much sense to me. Did they actually happen? Did I know the Mad Hatter before now?

I check myself over, and see a massive red-and-orange hammer in my hands. The orange handle is long and thin. The front end is a massive red device with several small gauges, gears, and glowing lights. The flat end of the front end has two gears surrounding some kind of emitter. A switch rests close to the hammer's front.

I stand up carefully. I don't want to drop the hammer. It feels heavy in my hands, but I can still carry it. I give the hammer a few swings, and feel my entire body move with the effort. Each time I swing, I feel the hammer give another _throb_.

I press the switch with my thumb, and the entire front end glows a bright orange. The new light lets me see a nearby part of the wall has a large crack in it that wasn't there before. I go closer, and see the crack is made by a large metal shard wedged into the wall. One strong impact might punch it through the crack and make an opening.

' _I've got nothing else to lose,_ ' I think as I feel the hammer _throb_ once again. I move to where the shard is easiest to hit and draw the hammer back as far as I can without falling over. I position my feet so that I'm balanced on top of the scrap below me, and swing the hammer forward.

Noise and light blow all my senses away. I fall on my ass again as vibrations run through my body. A wave of metal and broken table items slides me through the now-open crack, and drop me onto an adjacent metal walkway.

I don't fall very far, and the scrap doesn't swamp over me when I land. Regardless, I run as quickly as I can from the hole I've just made. The hammer reduces my movement somewhat, and the front end no longer glows. I save my questions about this weapon for another time as I walk down the only possible pathway I can take.

Hopefully, Alice isn't too far away.

* * *

 **That should be enough for now. I understand if you are confused by the fact I've gone off the canon story. In fact, please let me know whether you like these changes so far, if you can.**

 **Please also review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish. The next chapter will take longer to post because I have a few big events coming up that require my time. I hope you can stay interested in the story until that occurs.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	8. Release Madness Amidst The Maze

**Hello once again, readers! Time for the next chapter, and I apologize for its later posting.**

 **I don't have anything new to say, so let's drop the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including all beta content not produced in the final game. The 'American McGee's Alice' series belongs to their creators. The author owns his OC, and any custom elements he chooses to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I slow to a walking pace as I approach a long pathway balanced over several vats of molten metal. The liquid provides a bright orange light to the area. Small conveyor belts feed bits of metal into the vats, probably scrap pieces like the ones in the pit from earlier. The pathway I stand on has countless small square holes that let me see what's below without falling to that level.

My vision swims when I see just how high I am. I walk quickly across the platform, each breath filled with the overwhelming heat. Once across, the path closes back up and slopes upward at a gradual pace. That's good; going up will put me closer to Alice.

I move with renewed confidence. A distant rhythmic pounding of metal sends vibrations through my feet. I don't think I should investigate that; I've got bigger goals.

The upward path twists and turns through larger pipes and smaller corridors. Soon enough, I reach some kind of nexus point between my path and three others. The same square-holed platform pattern from before is here, but there is also a raised metal block on each corner and a large hole in the center over a literal river of molten metal. Where's all this metal going, if it's all being melted down like this? Does the Domain run on this stuff?

The _clink_ of chains turns my gaze upward. I stare in shock as a rusted teapot with three spidery legs clambers down one of four chains that stretch down the center hole, and then jumps to one of the raised blocks. The creature looks at me with a single red eye that shines like a jewel inside its ornately-carved body. Its body is colored in a mix of faded gold and green.

The creature turns itself to the side, pointing the nozzle of its teapot front at me. I hear a loud whistling as its body shudders in place, before it fires a large ball of liquid at me in an arc. I dodge back as the liquid splatters onto the platform with a loud _hiss_ and a small cloud of steam. I smell the liquid, and see the image of the Mad Hatter drinking a liquid just like it. The image vanishes a moment later.

I focus on the _throb_ of the hammer still in my hands. I wait for the creature to make the next move. I don't have to wait long before it charges up another attack. This time, I notice steam gather into its 'lid' as its body rattles and shakes. It's almost like this attack requires all of its focus; if that's true, then it'll probably be vulnerable if I can get close enough for a few good hammer swings.

I dodge the liquid projectile, and figure I need to end this match quickly. But, I don't know how to get close enough to do that.

The next several minutes go by in a stalemate. I can't jump high enough to reach the teapot-creature, even at my maximum effort. Meanwhile, I teleport away from the scalding tea the creature fires at me. I take a breath next to the block the creature stands on, and try to make up a new plan.

"You seem troubled," the voice of the Cheshire Cat flows into my ears. I growl as I hear my foe let out some kind of growl, but my focus turns to the Cat as it appears in front of me with his familiar _woosh_ of air.

"This creature and I can't reach each other," I respond, my words short as I glance back up to the platform. "I'm tempted to just move onto another path and leave this thing behind."

"That is a simple way out," the Cat agrees with me. "But, when has the simplest option ever been the best one? If only Alice were here to tell you the proper way to do things."

"Alice isn't here, Cat," I comment with gritted teeth as I hear the creature stomp around the platform on its spidery legs. "Why do you keep talking about her?"

"You remind me of her, when she was young," the Cat replies. "Is that so wrong to think?"

I glance at the Cat in surprise, but turn away again when I see it still has that feces-eating grin on its face. He might be joking.

"Consider all your options before making the final judgement," the feline suggests. "The best answer may be right in front of you."

Another growl from the creature turns me away from the feline. I thumb my fingers across the hammer's handle as I try to think of what the Cat's words mean.

I look the the hammer for an answer, and notice a red lever along the front end of the weapon. It connects to a large nozzle that puffs out steam when I rub my hand over the main switch. I barely see the letters, 'RM' and 'MM' etched in faded gold in two positions beneath the lever; the lever is now at the 'MM' point, which is further away from me. The lever is at the bottom of the Hammer's front, and it's hard to notice against the Hammer's business end.

I take a quick breath, grasp the lever, and force it to the 'RM' spot. The hammer's entire front end rises up and along the handle until it stops at the same angle as the handle. A large nozzle puffs out steam as it hangs over the same switch I just pulled. Another switch hangs from below, but I don't want to push it right now.

I prop the hammer's handle on my right shoulder. My left hand grabs onto a small handle to hold the heavy front end in place. My right hand feels around for the trigger as I raise the modified hammer to my eye level. To my surprise, the dials, gauges and handles are sculpted in a way that I can see through them with my right eye. It's like the hammer was _made_ with this intention in mind; whoever designed it like this is a genius, or absolutely mad.

Either way, this might give me the answer I need.

* * *

I lower my weapon, teleport to the opposite wall, and whirl around to face the single-eyed teapot. It grunts loudly at me, its voice slightly warped from all the metal here. I quickly re-position the hammer on my shoulder, and match the sight to my target. Once the creature's cat-like eye is in sight, I press the switch with my right index finger.

The hammer _throbs_ for a moment as the nozzle puffs out a small cone of flame very close to my ear. The cone grows hotter with each second, and the whole weapon starts to shake. I quickly press the switch again before this gets out of hand.

I almost fly off my feet as the hammer launches a large ball of solidified molten metal. It flies in an arc as the one-eyed teapot charges up its own attack. The explosion the ball creates when it strikes the raised block's top consumes the creature in a huge ball of fiery liquid. It gives the same sound as when the creature fired at me, but a bit stronger. The blast's heat fills the room for a moment.

I lower the hammer from my shoulder as the liquid flows down the side of the raised block.. This weapon is amazing! Why was it discarded back in that pit, among so many other bits of broken metal, plates, and silverware? Did the Mad Hatter not like this device after he made it? Or, has he moved on to other, more dangerous devices?

A tingle down my neck makes me look to my right. I scream at another teapot-creature as it raises its two front legs up as if to skewer me. Instinct takes hold, and I teleport to the left until a good distance is placed between the two of us. I raise the hammer up again and press the firing switch, but the weapon doesn't charge up. Several of the gauges on the hammer's front blink bright red. Is it overloaded, like the Pepper Grinder was?

' _This isn't good,_ ' I muse as the new teapot creature scuttles across the metal towards me like a spider. I quickly reach for the lever from before and push it to 'MM'. This moves the hammer's front back to an angled position against the handle, the position when I first found it. The nozzle lets out a cone of flame as I thumb the switch from before.

My foe growls at me as it closes in, but I quickly teleport to the opposite end of the platform. I then run forward and use the hammer's weight to leap as high as I can. A cry leaves my lips as I dive-bomb the walking teapot. The hammer's impact blows it apart like a squashed fruit.

The impact makes the whole platform rumble, but I don't get knocked back by the force. The central eye remains, now a solid red orb among countless bits of scrap metal that fall through the holes into the molten stream below.

"Take that, you eye… pot… thing," I say to the orb. The name 'Eyepot' pops into my head as the first name I can think of to call these things. I don't question why I said that, it just seems correct for a single-eyed teapot that can walk and launch scalding tea at you.

I turn away from the Eyepot's remains just as the four chains around the pit begin to move up. A large metal platform rises to my level a few seconds later, and stops as if waiting for me. I get on it, and it starts moving up again, taking me to an unknown destination.

* * *

The platform stops inside a large teapot, a huge hole in the side for me to walk through. I step out onto a black-and-white tiled space that's in open air. Even if the sky here is a putrid yellow, it's something different than the metal corridors and platforms back inside. The air actually isn't that bad to breathe in, but I cough a few times as I taste some kind of spice. Large gears float in wide circles in the distance, like the dominoes of the Vale of Tears. A smaller building made of grey brick, a few large clock faces, and a pointed tiled roof floats to my far right, but I don't want to go anywhere near it.

One gear floats over to my position, and I watch it move through the air to another path. This other path leads inside a large hole in the brick wall of the same building I just walked out of. I can't see any other way to get across, and nothing stands out in midair that would prompt me to think of hidden paths. So, I jump on the gear when it floats back to me, and ride it to the new platform.

Along the way, the hammer vanishes from my grip. But, the _throb_ remains, and I don't feel its power has completely gone.

After I hop off my ride, I step inside the hole. A chasm to my immediate left leads to more of the yellow sky, while a solid path in front of me leads into darkness. The only thing to my right is more wall, as well as one of those 'Shrinking Violets' Alice spoke of earlier. I take a step towards the solid path, but I stop as I glance at the Shrinking Violet again.

The last time I saw one of these, it had been near a hidden path that Alice and I used to walk across a different chasm. Can the same be said for the placement of this Violet?

I move into the Violet's petals and shrink down; the flower envelops me and fills me with new energy before I burst out of it. I place the few teeth that pop out with me in my pocket for Alice, and turn to the supposedly-impassable chasm. I shrink down again, and smile as I now see a glowing purple path stretch off and to the left. There's also a crude sketch of a long-nosed male face, with a very long top hat, on the far wall above the path.

I hiccup once as I confidently start down the path, glad that what Alice said before is sticking in my mind. Her advice might even help me find her again.

* * *

The hidden path reaches a solid metal grate, through which a large column of steam billows up a narrow shaft. I don't see any other paths, even with Shrink Sense. The steam moves quite quickly, ruffling my hair and clothes. Can it help me?

' _It's either this, or the dark path,_ ' I think to myself. ' _And that path doesn't look so good after I've gone to all the trouble of discovering this secret area._ ' With this thought, I jump as best I can above the grate with the hopes that the steam will carry me up to where I want to go.

To my surprise, my lower body tingles as I actually fly up the shaft. I look down and see my lower body is now white mist. The steam rises along with me, like I've become one with it. With this new ability, I very quickly reach the end of the shaft.

Another metal path is in front of me, and I angle my upper body forward to reach it. This takes a few attempts to get right, but the steam is strong enough in its lift that I don't fall back down the shaft.

Once I touch the solid surface, my lower body instantly reforms into flesh, blood, bone, and clothes. I run down the path without any problems. This new path feels very warm; sweat breaks out on my skin almost instantly.

The path twists and turns as I move down it for what feels like several minutes. Each new turn goes off in an apparently random direction. The sweat soaks my clothes, and my hands feel like they're soaking in water. I place a hand on the metal around me for a moment's rest, but instantly draw it back with a cry as the metal burns my skin.

' _Don't get distracted,_ ' I warn myself as I continue to slog along the ever-changing path. ' _Try and find a way out of here, and get to Alice._ '

Unfortunately, no amount of progress I make along the path gets me out of it. Fear grows in my gut the longer I'm in here. So many twisting paths, and no proper end; what is the meaning of this place?

As I turn another corner, I come to a large center room. I step on a thin layer of Ruin that doesn't extend an inch outside of the room. It clings to my feet with each step I take, sapping my strength along with the oppressive heat.

Then, countless Insidious Ruin rise from the muck. I'm surrounded in an instant. My vision turns white as I look at one doll-faced monstrosity after another. The pumps on their backs release foul-smelling smoke that makes me gag.

"Stay… stay back!" Words come slowly to my mind, but my heart beats faster every second as fear tries to make me react quicker. "I'm warning you!"

The creatures just scream back at me, their voices like the orphans at Houndsditch. They advance towards me on all sides; I try to leap away, but my feet don't move. My hammer appears in my hands instantly, and I give a warning swing. The Insidious stop for a second, but no longer.

My arms feel too weak to smash these thing's masks in. My legs ache to move somewhere, _anywhere_ , but the Ruin binds them down. The white in my eyes grows brighter as my conscience says there's no way out. But, I have to get out; Alice still needs me, and I still need her. I can't die here, not when there's so much I still need to do!

I scrunch down as best as I can as I try to force myself to move, to fight, to find Alice. Heat blossoms in my chest as I feel that power from the Vale of Tears come to life again. This time, I don't try and stop its growth, not even when it flows through my body. My lips move, and words form with intense effort as I feel all my strength move to a single point in my chest with a sharp tingle.

"Leave… me… ALONE!"

My vision warps to shades of white, my ears roar, my limbs shudder, and...

I go _everywhere_.

I leap off the walls, race across the floor, and dive off the ceiling. I leave white mist wherever I go, the trails crisscrossing again and again. A cracked section of the wall blows apart as I leap off it, and press against it, with the force of hundreds of hands in a single moment.

Each Insidious Ruin, now a dark red amidst the white expanse, is ripped apart in violent manners. I see this up close as I tear each Ruin to shreds. I also see this from every possible corner and angle of the room. Each Ruin leaves behind a small red orb that I grab and crush in one of my many hands. Each orb crushed gives _all of me_ new strength.

As the last Ruin falls, the power flows in reverse. I fly back together. My countless hands become two hands again. My body, and clothes, come back together just as they were. I feel much better than before.

The heat from before instantly begins to sap my strength away into its all-consuming aura, but I still bask in the afterglow of my victory. Actually, it's all I _can_ do right now.

The images, and feelings, I saw when I made contact with the hammer come back. The dark and narrow corridors, the need to escape the Mad Hatter, the spider with a human mask that attacked me from above, the myriad of potions leaking into my skin as the spider's poison ran through my veins, my body turning to white dust with each passing second.

Did I get this power from a combination of spider-venom and chemicals? Or, was this a part of the Mad Hatter's experiments that actually succeeded?

' _Not sure I want to test it, considering how dangerous things have been so far,_ ' I think as I walk through the broken hole in the wall, and onto a metal platform with an ornate arch carved into the surface. The platform rumbles slightly, and then begins to rise up at a slow pace.

The room leaves my sight, but I get to see just where I was. It's a long twirling maze of pipes that hangs over a massive furnace. The flames reach higher than the pipes, and provide the only source of light for a nearby chamber. That chamber is filled with hanging teapots the size of houses, intertwined gears that slowly clack in a rhythmic pulse, and four large feeders that dispense large quantities of metal into the fire.

Why would someone would place that maze of pipes amidst a giant chamber that's _currently on fire_? I see no logic behind this, even if that maze is going to eventually burn apart. Frankly, I deserve better options than what I got!

* * *

The platform continues up for a few minutes. As I wait, I dismiss my hammer, pop a kink in my back, and question how much longer it'll take for me to reach Alice.

I don't think she's already left the Domain without me. I'll see her again. When I do, I wonder if my new fighting skills will make her act different around me. My new weapon is certainly going to get her attention, especially when she sees it used in action. But, will she make me fight more battles on my own, despite the fact I still need her help with my memories?

The platform stops its ascent at a small corridor with oval walls. They bulge outwards, and then draw back into a small hole that's covered up with metal sheets. The sheets have tiny holes in them that let me see a bright light in the next room, as well as four pipes a few feet apart from each other that blast out steam through holes in their tops.

I summon my hammer, if 'summon' is the right word, and bash the wall open with ease. The light I just saw reveals itself as a series of bulbs connected to the ceiling of a large room. There's nothing beneath the pipes; at least the steam from before had a grate that I could fall back down onto.

I dismiss my hammer, and leap to the first pipe to ride the steam as best I can. My lower body fades away as I float as high as I can, and then fall to the next cloud. I rise with that cloud, and repeat the process across the remaining two pipes. I land on solid metal with a smirk, and slip into the next corridor.

This corridor leads to another wall, but the air feel heavy. Something is right in this room with me, something that I should respond to. A guess as to who, or what, it is comes to mind. Since I have nothing else to lose, I act on it.

"Are you here, Cheshire Cat?" I ask quietly to the room, and then wait for a response. No word or sound reaches my ears, so I continue with, "If you are here, I'd like to ask you a question. I know you probably think I'm not worth your time, but if you could spare a moment just this once-"

"You're spending too much time talking, _Kyle_. But, since you asked so nicely…"

I jump as I hear the Cheshire Cat in my ears. He then appears in front of me, his eyes an eerie glow in the corridor's darkness. His grin doesn't falter, but his tail flicks quickly against the metal floor. His ears are flat against his head as he looks me over.

"Listen," I quickly say. "I see the way you look at me in regard to Alice. You probably think I'm worthless. Compared to Alice, I don't belong here at all, right?"

"Those words are rather harsh," the feline replies. "But, if that's what you consider yourself to be, what's the point of my opinion?"

"I'm not judging myself, I'm asking your opinion on how you think of me being here! Are you always this cryptic with everything you say?"

"I have found that subtlety very often beats brute force in the war for Wonderland."

The cat's reply makes me pause in sudden realization of just what Alice, and I, are fighting for. Are we really at war against these Ruin entities, and what other enemies come our way? If so, how can we be expected to win against the odds we've been facing?

"I…" I speak with a heavy feeling on my confidence, my anger gone in a flash. "I didn't think we were in a war for Wonderland. After all, I was brought here by chance, from what I can tell. I don't want Wonderland to suffer from these creatures, but I still feel like I'm different from everyone else here."

"That's why you need to speak to the Hatter," the Cat reminds me. "He knows more about different than you do. I doubt he knows the difference between 'bad' and 'good', but he has the capabilities to help you win the war. Get his head screwed on right, and you'll have taken a giant leap forward."

He then vanishes from sight, the air around me a bit lighter due to his absence. I summon my hammer and take a few breaths to try and calm myself. If the Mad Hatter is close by, then I suspect I'll need to be on my best behavior.

I look myself over. None of my clothes are damaged or dirty. Then again, I don't know how the Hatter will think of what I'm wearing, even though the images I've seen of my past show me the Hatter isn't someone I liked.

My hammer makes short work of the wall, but it also produces a lot of noise that echoes across the large chamber I step into.

* * *

This area is rectangular, the hole I break into left of a large oval wall of scrap metal that stretches over another weak metal sheet. Another wall-and-sheet combo lies on the opposite wall, but I pay attention to the large, open metal doors on the long left wall that lead to a chasm. I then look at the large collection of scrap metal mounted on the wall to my right.

Two large mechanical hands with white gloves come to life from among the mounted scrap as I step into the chamber's center. The hands wave wildly, and I stop as I try to process what they want, or whether I should ignore them. One hand then points down to the floor below it as the other makes tip-toe motions with its fingers. I look down to the floor, and then jump back a bit as I suddenly see a large head and face muttering gibberish on the floor.

The face appears male, but it has a very long nose, scarred ears, barely any hair, mottled green skin, tiny eyes that are currently closed, and large front teeth that extend out of his mouth. The actions of the hand now make sense; walk quietly, don't disturb the rambling head.

That action becomes no longer possible the moment the head snaps open its eyes. It looks at me, and then at my hammer, and then it sucks in a breath. I question how this head can breathe, move, and apparently talk while not having any sort of body attached to it. However, the sight of a large torso in a large straitjacket gives me some comfort, as well as the fact his exposed neck has some kind of cog attached to it. With any luck, this person's head could be attached to the torso.

"Who are you," the head suddenly shouts out in a wild, hoarse voice. "Where are you? When were you last here? Why have you come from whence you did? How did you arrive in the Domain? Do you know why a raven is like a writing desk?!"

"Be quiet, you… head," I quickly say as I take several steps back and aim the hammer at this screaming head. "I'm not in the mood to be shouted at. If you keep this up, I'll bash your brains in."

"Bash me in?" The head almost screams this as his eyes widen. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no! That's a _terrible_ way to use the prototype of the Automaton Hammer!"

"You know what this thing is?" I take a quick glance at the so-called 'Automaton Hammer', and then back to the head.

"Of course I know, I made it! I bloody built it long ago. I'm the Mad Hatter, after all, and I know this is my place of home; or, it _was_ , until those blasted friends of mine had the common discourtesy to rip me apart and throw me down the garbage chute! Despicable traitors, tricksters, backstabbers, squealers, tattle-tales, terrifying, torpor-filled—"

The head stops speaking as, against all logical reason, he instantly falls asleep. I just stare, not sure whether to laugh or bash the head to pieces. The only word I can think for him is 'mad'. Just mad, nothing else, like his supposed name implies. He isn't wearing a hat, so the 'Hatter' part is out of the debate.

Then again, this head does have the same looks, and cocky attitude. Maybe it _is_ the Mad Hatter.

I look around the room, try to keep myself active, and possibly find something useful among the scraps. Maybe the Mad Hatter's new living place isn't as _mad_ as he is.

* * *

 **Alright, that should do for now. I'm sorry if this chapter is less thematic or interesting than other chapters. I need to figure out some future plot points, so the next update, again, will take some time to post.**

 **Please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new ideas as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	9. We Fight Against The Menace

**Hello again, readers! Time for the next chapter!**

 **I apologize if this chapter was delayed in posting; I have been busy getting back to my college and settling into the dorms again. Classes start the day after this chapter will be posted, so this delay may continue for a while.**

 **Also, a part of me feels like this story isn't good enough for you all. This probably sounds like I'm pestering you, but I would really like to know how this story makes you feel, and if there's anything that can be improved. I'll continue to write the story if you don't provide anything, but I feel it can be made better if I get your opinions on how it is so far.**

 **Again, I'm sorry if the above sounds like me nagging you all for comments/reviews. I will refrain from being like this in the future.**

 **Now, for the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including all beta content (such as the design and abilities of the 'Automaton Hammer'). The 'American McGee's Alice' series is owned by its creators. The author owns his OC, and any specific custom elements he chooses to introduce to the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

It doesn't take long for me to explore every nook and cranny of this room. A few boxes lie to the far sides, hidden behind those metal oval walls. I smash these open with the so-called 'Automaton Hammer', and find a few teeth for my troubles. I pocket those for when I see Alice again, confident that we'll cross paths at some point.

The Mad Hatter begins to murmur again as I move back to his location. The hands above him make signs for me to walk quietly. I roll my eyes, but take slow steps over to a far side of the chamber. My boots splash through a thin layer of liquid that, thankfully, doesn't soak into my feet. The large doors remain open, like they're held in place for someone, or something, to enter into its home. Is that logical?

' _Actually_ _,_ ' I think with a smile. ' _What is considered 'logical' here? If this Wonderland is Alice's creation, she is probably the most 'logical' being here. Maybe I should—_ '

A loud _ding_ comes from beyond the doors just before I hear a grinding of what sounds like chains. I take a brief glance outside and see a large metal cube being lowered on chains to my level. Another two cubes lower to similar heights, but I dart back to the chamber's corner before I see anyone start to move inside. I ready the Hammer and prepare to strike down anything, or anyone, that tries to come in here.

My preparations don't count on Alice entering the chamber. I stare in frozen, joyous surprise as she moves over to the Hatter's head. Once again, she doesn't notice me. I see streaks of black next to her eyes, like some of the Ruin got on her face.

Her outfit has changed since I last saw her, save for her boots and stockings. She now wears a grey-and-brown dress with a white neck collar, a belt or 'cincher' around her waist with some sort of harness attached, and black fingerless gloves with attached buckles. Two more unknown symbols are sown into the dress's leather-like fabric, and the skull-and-bow on her back are now white wings surrounding a gold-bordered green large watch.

"Hatter," I hear her comment to the mumbling head as she picks it up from the floor. "I recall leaving you in a decrepit condition, but not in pieces!"

"What, what?" Hatter's question echoes my own confusion about what Alice said about 'leaving him'. He then mutters, "Oh, it's you!" in a mocking and weary tone. What kind of relationship did these two have before now? Maybe this connects to what Alice said in the Vale about the Mad Hatter hating 'mechanical malfunctions'? Did Alice cause one of them?

"What's happened here," Alice asks as I peek out from behind the nearby oval wall to see her toss Hatter's head in her hands like a fragile object. "You've lost your hat, and some… parts are missing."

"Missing indeed!" The Hatter sputters for a moment as Alice walks over to his immobile torso, his head in her arms. "Though things being what they are, I barely miss their missing! As for what's happened, you should know that better than I! It's your place after all. I know my place!"

As the Hatter finishes his rant, Alice places his head on top of his neck. It attaches itself to the body with a few loud _clicks_.

"When did you ever know your place, or how to keep it?" Alice asks as the Hatter gives his reattached head a few twitches. "Now, what's going on?"

A piercing screech, like several metal plates grinding against each other, or some massive beast, fills the chamber with noise and violent shaking. The Hatter's scream joins the noise as I stumble around. Thankfully, I don't fall flat on my face.

" _That's_ going on," the mad inventor shouts. "It's around and up and down and into my ears and through my eyes and up my nostril, down my gullet, and winding in my guts!"

"Papa was exceedingly fond of trains," Alice comments as she looks up to the chamber's ceiling. "I don't like them much."

' _So, it's a train that's making that noise,_ ' I realize. ' _Where is it coming from? Where is it going?_ '

"You won't like this one at all," the Hatter says to Alice with a wiggle of his head. "Nothing like when Mocking Turtle was in charge of the Looking Glass Line. This railroad's a bloody shambles. The stink is ferocious, light blinding, the noise hellacious!"

"Ah, quite Hatter," Alice says with a raised voice, probably to stop the man from ranting on with more descriptions. "I get the idea, a bad train."

"The world is upside-down, Alice," the Hatter continues as the two large hands move over to his torso, pick it up, and lift it several feet off the ground. "Inmates run the asylum, no offense, and worst of all, I'm left _tealess_!"

"Tragic." Alice's sarcasm is so strong with that one word, I swear it could punch the Hatter across his humongous nose. "If I do help, will you help me in return?"

"Cross my heart, if I had one!" The Hatter laughs after he says this, like he just made a joke. "Find my limbs and toss them down the chute! Machines will do the rest. Be on your way now, there's a good girl! Best way out is through the clock face!"

"Finding your limbs is one thing," Alice says with her hands on her hips. "But, what will you offer me if I want your help in something else, as well?"

"What could you possibly want that would require my help? Tea, perhaps, or time to have it? I don't have either, since the clocks here were sent to hell and back!"

"I came here with a boy named Kyle Zuclair." I hold back a gasp as Alice says my name. "We got separated in our 'graceful' arrival to your establishment, and we haven't crossed paths since. I know he's here, but I don't know whether he's still alive."

"Don't talk to me about your love life, girl," the Hatter shouts at Alice. "There isn't any time for that!"

"He's not—!" Alice starts as a burst of anger makes me take action.

"Alice's love life is her own concern, Hatter," I shout from my covering, before I step out from behind it, my Hammer in my hands. "I'm content with us just being friends."

"Kyle!" Alice's shock turns into a wide smile as she runs over and bear-hugs me. I clumsily hug her back, the Hammer still in my hands as I don't know how far I should go with this. Luckily, Alice pulls back after a few seconds with the words, "Are you feeling alright? Where did you end up?"

"I think I fell down some long shaft, or something," I respond without looking directly at Alice. "I woke up in a large bin of scrap metal and teapots a long way below where we crashed into this place. I've had to find my own path up, and dealt with some foes along the way."

"I can see that," Alice comments as I turn back to her, but she's looking at the weapon in my hands. "You've certainly gained a tool to fight with."

"The Hatter said this was a prototype weapon for his Automatons, whatever _those_ are. It's helped me out against the Ruin and Eyepots that I've had to fight to get here."

"Eyepots?" Alice raises an eyebrow at me. "You mean those teapots with one eye walking on three legs that shoot burning liquid on you like you're in a tavern brawl?"

I reply with a quick, "Yeah, _those_ ," and we share a smirk at Alice's description.

"Well," I then say as I look to the two oval walls. "Where's the clock face Hatter said we should get out of?"

"It should be through one of these walls," Alice comments as she reaches into a pocket of her dress. "You go to one, and I'll deal with the other. I've got something that'll open it."

I see Alice pull out a small white rabbit in a red-and-black waistcoat and black top hat, a large clock in its hands. Its eyes glow a pinkish red, as does the clock in its hands. Alice then pulls out some kind of remote control as she presses the rabbit's body into the hat with a sharp _click_.

As curious as I am to see how this device works, I move over to the other wall and flick the hammer's power switch. The familiar _throb_ makes me smirk as I swing it onto the weak metal, and it blasts open with ease. A metal platform with some kind of horseshoe symbol rests inside. I feel the temptation to stand on it and see what happens.

I resist that temptation as I notice a few more teeth to pick up for Alice. I step out just as Alice steps out from the other oval section, the wall having been blown apart for her entry.

"I suppose that device is the 'something' you talked about," I ask as I hand Alice the teeth for her to absorb. She pulls another of the small rabbits out of her pocket, along with a small cylindrical keychain, as she starts to explain what it is.

"I call this a Clockwork Bomb. You just snap the body into the top hat and toss it on the ground. It'll automatically start ticking down until it explodes, which I've timed to be about 30 seconds. I can also trigger it to explode with the controller, here. It blows apart those weaker surfaces, and also acts as a weight where you put it."

"Impressive," I say as I note the design of the fat rabbit. It reminds me of the rabbit that gnawed my neck out in my nightmares. "How many of these do you have on you?"

"As many as I need. This is _my_ world, after all; it's a simple act to call something like this into existence when I need it. It's the same with my abilities to dismiss and summon my weapons, and upgrade them as well." I refrain from contradicting this, since it is technically true.

"Get to the platform," Alice then says while pointing to the opened space she blew up. "Once I place the bomb on that Pad, we'll have 30 seconds to get on and get going."

I nod as I head over while Alice moves to where I was. I hear something _thump_ onto metal, and then a rhythmic _tick-tick_ fills the chamber.

Alice calls out, "Let's move!" and I comply with a small jump onto the platform. When Alice gets on as well, the surface starts to rise up and into a shaft that's large enough for us. The Mad Hatter tilts his head to see us go, while the Clockwork Bomb's ticking grows faster and faster with each second. I hear a loud _ding-ding-ding_ from the device as we rise into the shaft, and hope we get to where we need to be before the Bomb explodes...

* * *

The rising platform stops in the center of, true to the Hatter's words, a large white clock face like the one I stood on when fighting the Alice-like woman in my nightmares. The sky around us is a sickly green-and-yellow, which reminds me of vomit for reasons I can't describe. Three teapots, each one the size of several London houses, float in the distance, each one bearing a different sign.

Alice taps my shoulder and directs my attention to a blue umbrella that floats gently down to us. I shrug my shoulders as to what it's there for, and Alice walks up and takes it for herself.

The platform then shakes as a large pool of Ruin melts from below the clock face's surface. It forms into a new creature that stands before Alice. This Ruin stands as tall as two Alice's, and has the same legwork as the Insidious Ruin, but the similarities end there. _This_ Ruin has three doll faces below several nozzles and pieces of train engines on its back, two white arms near those faces, and one large black arm made of Ruin.

It snorts like a pig as it notices us. The nozzles and engine parts on its back go haywire as it draws a burning sphere of Ruin from its back.

"Stay down, Kyle," Alice shouts as the Ruin lets out a short cry before it throws the fireball at Alice. Alice draws the umbrella up and open it up before the projectile hits her. The impact knocks the umbrella right out of her hands and forces her back a step. I move to the side as the Ruin launches two more fireballs at Alice. The umbrella flies to her hands to block one, but the other slams into her with a spray of what I assume to be very hot Ruin.

The creature then chucks a few fireballs at me; I avoid them with a few quick teleports. The fireballs explode on the metal, and I feel their heat on my skin. The Ruin steps towards me, and I quickly teleport behind it. I summon the Automaton Hammer, flick the power switch, and swing it into a cluster of pipes lodged into the muck.

The surrounding Ruin pulses back as I feel pressure from what I guess is a small explosion go through the Hammer and into my arms. The Ruin gurgles out a cry that sounds like three people in pain at the same time. Before I can get away, it whirls around and slam its large liquid fist into my face.

I fly back and land hard at the far edge of the platform. I barely see Alice fire some pepper at the doll faces, which causes it to shield those faces with its two white arms. Maybe those faces are its weak points?

"Keep it busy, Alice," I call out as I rise to my knees and pull what I call the 'Mode Switch' on the Automaton Hammer back to 'RM'. The weapon quickly shifts to its ranged state, and I prop it on my shoulder like I did before. The Ruin is easier to target than the Eyepot, due to its size. The Hammer's _throb_ matches the growing anger I have towards this creature.

I fire at the Ruin, and grin when the flaming projectile manages to shatter one of its doll-masks off. It cries out as its white arms catch fire for a few seconds, and it turns towards me while raising its oversized fist to the sky. My grin turns to shock as it slams that fist into the ground; this creates explosions of red energy that rapidly move towards me. I barely teleport out of the way, and look to the Hammer's gauges. It needs more time to recharge.

Blue butterflies mark Alice's arrival as she teleports in front of the Ruin, apparently not intimidated in the least by the hulking from before her. She deals eight swift slashes of the Vorpal Blade to the monster, moving almost too fast for me to see. Another face shatters under her efforts, but the Ruin barrels Alice over with a charge on her position. Alice teleports out of its attack range before she is trampled, which leaves me in this thing's sight.

I teleport back to another edge of our battleground before I prop the Hammer up for a second shot. The Ruin whirls around and, with another roar, launches another fireball at Alice. This time, Alice absorbs the fireball with the umbrella, and then deflects the fireball back at its source. She deflects two other fireballs this way, which makes the Ruin cry out in apparent anger as it is hit by its own attack.

At that moment, the Hammer _throbs_ with new power. I cry out, "Heads up, freak!" as I press the Hammer's trigger as hard as I can.

The recoil breaks my aim slightly, and the metal sphere explodes in the Ruin's right shoulder. That's enough to almost break the large third arm off from the rest of the body. Alice teleports in and brutally rips off the last face with the Vorpal Blade. Now revealed, the Ruin whimpers in several voices at once before it melts into the ground.

Alice quickly absorbs the teeth and rose petals it leaves behind, while I press the Hammer's Mode Switch back to 'MM' in case another threat rose up against us. I take deep, long breaths to regain my strength as I feel my limbs ache.

A loud _whirr_ directs my attention to some kind of orange traffic light, or switch, that rises from the edge of the clock face. Alice notices them as well, and quickly draws the Pepper Grinder to shoot the lights one at a time. The light's hands move with each pepper shot that hits it, until they each turn green with a loud _beep_.

Alice then shoots something that I can't see, but recognize as a Snout when I hear it sneeze. She then moves beside one of the switches and jumps over to a single floating gear behind the face that has a floating Dr. Wilson memory on it. Once Alice breaks the memory, Dr. Wilson says, " _It's been years now, Alice; time to put away childish things._ "

I suspect by 'childish things', he's talking about some toy that Alice had in the past. Or, is he referring to the umbrella Alice picked up—is that a 'childish thing' to this man's mind? I ponder this over as Alice comes back to the clock face.

"That Hammer certainly has its uses," Alice says to me as she looks over my weapon. "None of the weapons I've ever used could switch between two or more forms."

I feel a twinge of satisfaction at this, but I try to keep my expression calm as I can be after a big battle. No need to make Alice feel any more upset with me. Actually…

"About what you said with the Hatter," I say before I fully realize what I'm asking. "Did you really want to find me that much?"

Alice looks away from me with a frown on her face. My hands twitch, and I feel a sense of error.

"I will admit," she says after a moment's silence. "I thought you were dead. You still don't know how things work in Wonderland. You being here at all is a mystery to me. I wanted to find you so that we could work together again; what I saw in the Vale of Tears tells me you aren't confident enough to fight on your own. The fact you used a Madcap's weapon against its former owner says you won't use any of my weapons in a fight, because you don't consider yourself worthy to use them."

"Now," she continues, "things are different. You have a weapon as versatile, and strong, as the Automaton Hammer. You are able to use your own tactics against enemies, like the Eyepot you mentioned earlier. I can see you're already growing as a fighter. I'm glad for that, even if your fighting tactics are still a bit barbaric. But, that will improve the longer you help me in this war."

I smile to Alice as I feel joy flow through my tired arms and legs. I'm glad I've proved myself to her, especially in a war like this.

I turn with Alice to look at the three supersized buildings. The left and right ones have some kind of teacup cart on rails that just falls down into the putrid-looking sky around us. These carts connect to gear-platforms, with ornate steps connecting the two gears that make up each platform together. The left gargantuan teapot has the sign 'Smelling and Regurgitating', the center one 'Assemblage (Or Destruction)' with the words '(as required), beneath, and the right one 'Crushing Up and Pressing Down'.

Each place is highlighted by some kind of extra décor, as well. 'Smelling and Regurgitating' is built like a large teapot, but it has two smaller teapots with mouths floating near the main structure that dispense molten metal down a series of pipes. 'Crushing Up and Pressing Down' has several pistons pushing themselves in and out of a large square head. 'Assemblage (Or Destruction) (as required) is a giant teapot with several blinking red lights arranged in a circle.

Each of these places doesn't look like a nice place to go to. However, 'Assemblage (Or Destruction) (as required)' doesn't have one of the teacup-carts connecting to it.

"We've got two options," I quickly say to Alice. "Which one do you want to go to?"

"Judging from the names, neither of them sound very appealing." Alice's comment makes me smirk as she walks by me to the left. "But, Papa always did like to get clean before he did heavy physical work. 'Smelling and Regurgitating' seems better to do first."

"Alright, then," I say as I follow Alice to the left cart, leaping across the gap between the clock face and the platform. Alice slashes open some metal boxes, and gets some teeth, along the way.

Alice shows me how to get in the cart when she leaps and twirls right into the thing; I follow with what I try to make a carefully-guided leap inside, but my landing shakes the entire thing. I have just enough time to get on my feet before we start rolling forward and down to the massive teapot.

* * *

The cart stops in another large metal chamber. It's darker here than outside, but I can see my surroundings.

A metal platform leads off to our left, our right blocked by a wall of metal plates haphazardly bolted together. Molten metal flows below us, the metal we land onto from the cart having symmetrical holes in its surface. The cart starts moving back on its own as soon as we are both off. I then hear a grating voice that sounds slightly distorted.

" _A good worker is a live worker, free to live, and work!_ " The voice then gives a sinister chuckle before it continues. " _A bad worker is a dead worker, and vice-versa! Don't be a bad worker! Bad workers are slaves, and dead! Payday for good workers has been postponed indefinitely. Payday for bad workers is_ cancelled _!_ "

I look up. The voice comes out of a giant horn, which is the nose for a golden mouse statue. My mind calls the statue a 'loudspeaker', used to communicate across vast distances. The same voice comes out of the speaker after a few seconds, with the exact same words as before.

Alice breaks open a few boxes as I observe the loudspeaker, and she comes back with an angry glance at the golden mouse. I feel relieved that she also dislikes the device. She leads us down the left platform to a set of stairs. Before we walk up them, though, the Cheshire Cat appears at the top. His grin isn't comforting.

"Steps to enlightenment brighten the way," he says to us. "But, the steps are steep. Take them one at a time." He vanishes after that, and I don't feel any smarter from what he said.

Alice walks up the steps immediately, and I run up to her as she slashes several pots apart. I catch a large poster on the left wall, which shows the upper body of an eyeball running as fast as it can with its human arms and legs. The words 'Forward Industry' are beneath this image.

"Do you know what this is, Alice?" I ask her as I hear her start to move forward.

"I have a suspicion," she replies. "But, we'll probably learn more up ahead. Stay close."

I force further questions down into my gut as Alice leaps to a circular platform held in place over the molten metal river by a large pipe. Other pipes, valves and cogs of various sizes climb up the walls. The heat here is almost as bad as that pipe maze. I look to my right on a whim, and see a waterfall of the orange-white liquid fall to a lower pool. _That_ must be where the heat is coming from.

A _ding_ alerts me to Alice's newest action, and I almost fall to my feet as the platform we are on starts to lower into the magma! It rises up again a few moments later, and I also see another platform start to shift to the right. Large nozzles that eject streams of molten metal into the river below also begin to move back and forth.

I grit my teeth at this change. I don't want to get anywhere near that stuff, so why is it in our way?

"Don't panic, Kyle," Alice says to me. "Time your jump through the metal, and you'll be fine."

Alice demonstrates a moment later. Her twirls and floating ability allow her to glide down to the second platform as it just begins to rise up. I don't feel as confident, but I do my best to time the rise and fall of the two platforms against the shifting of the molten metal-ejecting nozzles. It takes several seconds for me to get the rhythm down, but I eventually gather the white mist into my legs, take a running start, and execute the farthest leap I've done yet.

I brush by the burning liquid before I land on all fours with a loud _thud_. The platform shakes for a second, but it doesn't break apart. I release a breath and dust myself off as Alice looks around for our next destination. She has to repeat the process with another switch, and I follow quickly behind, with the same results.

The same voice from before, saying the exact same words, comes from another speaker to our upper right, but this one has golden eyes and a golden sign beneath it with the words, " _Your new Leader, Dormouse_ ". Also, a new poster catches my eye on the wall before us.

" _Decadence,_ " this poster cries out in black lettering. " _Excess Waste! The Hatter's Madness ends TODAY!_ " Alongside the words ' _Excess Waste_ ' is a symbol similar to one I've seen on Alice's dresses, but this one has a red circle with a line over it, like the symbol is a source of evil, or something. What do these symbols mean, exactly?

"The symbols?" Alice pauses for a moment as I ask her this question. She then tugs at the skirt of her dress as she says, "Oh, you mean these ones? They're Greek symbols of alchemy and astronomy. They represent different aspects of my personality and situation. The symbols here," she says while pointing to the ones on her dress, "are Mercury, the Ruler of Travel, and Saturn, the Ruler of Law and bringer of matter over mind or spirit.

"The symbol on the poster," Alice continues while pointing to said object. "is also Mercury, which I think represents the Hatter and the Looking Glass Line we saw crumble apart in the Vale. The fact it's crossed out like that proves that the Mad Hatter has been thrown down from his throne. That's probably my fault, actually; I did kill him the last time we met."

"You did say you had put a stop to his schemes," I muse as I remember Alice's attitude towards the Madcaps we fought in that desert-place. "But, what about the symbols you had on in the Vale? Those looked different, I think."

"They were different," Alice responds with a nod. "They were Eris, the Ruler of Strife, Chaos, and Discord, and Jupiter, Ruler of the mind rising over matter. Jupiter and Saturn contradict each other, which is why the Hatter and I don't… get along."

I nod, amazed that Alice knows this much about the symbols. It's almost as if she designed them herself, even though I really don't think that's true.

Alice jumps to a non-moving metal surface, and I follow behind. We move through a small corridor that juts to the right. Along the way, one more poster grabs our attention.

" _Embrace Industry,_ " the poster says. " _Embrace Efficiency._ " Two pictures cover a large portion of what's beneath these words; one shows a wide-eyed mouse with a small cup on its head and a checkered coat, the other shows a wide-eyed rabbit with wickedly-sharp teeth, a large monocle, and a fancy waistcoat. The words, " _Your New Leaders!_ " jump out in large black letters beneath these creepy images.

"Dormouse and the March Hare?" Alice sounds stumped as she asks this out loud. "That's impossible! They were just the guests at Hatter's everlasting tea party, and then the subjects of his cruel clockwork experiments! How could they, of all creatures, take over the Domain, let alone keep it running?"

"The Hatter did say these two had done a lot of damage to him," I comment as I continue to stare at the Domain's new leaders. "Maybe these two are stronger than you thought. If you kill the scientist controlling the experiments, those subjects have the chance to run amok and gain their own power."

"I suppose," Alice says as she tilts her head down. "But, those two are so… unfit to lead! Dormouse was almost always asleep, or half-awake, at the parties. Meanwhile, the March Hare kept muttering idiotic phrases and commenting on the least-important thing like it mattered the most. How are those qualities of leadership?"

"Everyone is given the chance to prove themselves. It's whether you choose to pursue your goals without fearing the consequences that separates the strong from the weak."

My hand flies to my lips as I realize I actually just said that sentence. But, I don't know where those words came from… do I?

I glance at Alice. She gives me with a questioning look as molten metal bubbles around us, but then looks away and simply says, "I'll take your word for it."

My stomach drops in disappointment as Alice walks through a large oval doorway into the next room. I follow behind, and then jump as the doorway slams shut behind us.

The room we are now in is more like a giant chamber. Two streams of molten metal flow around a large central space. Geysers of the liquid erupt on the left and right parts of that space. The metal then flows back towards itself and falls down another waterfall. A single circular platform, like the ones we previously used to cross the burning liquid, helps us reach that space. As soon as we land on the space, the platform quickly falls back into the waterfall.

There's no going back, now.

An Eyepot in front of us flicks its eye open as we draw our weapons. It then stands up as three Insidious Ruin rise from the metal surface, and another Eyepot drops down from a higher chain. I get the Automaton Hammer into the 'MM' mode, while Alice draws the Vorpal Blade and swings it once in her hand.

None of us move. The Eyepots stare at us, and the Insidious slash the air in front of them. We all silently judge each other for a second, the bubbling stream around us providing background noise for what feels like a big battle.

Then, battle is joined.

* * *

I hear Alice cry, "The Ruin are mine!" as she teleports towards the tar-like creatures. I contend myself with one of the Eyepots, which raises its front legs to skewer me through. Luckily, I shrink down for a split second, and then give it a solid bash to the eye. It loudly grunts and falls inert, but the _scuttle_ of the other Eyepot alerts me to an attack from behind. I teleport away from them and toward Alice, just in time to see her slice the last Ruin to blubbery shreds.

Before I can complement on Alice's skill, burning-hot tea sprays onto my skin and clothes. I scream in pain just before my right shoulder is skewered through by an Eyepot. This makes me gasp out, and I teleport away as far as I can. Alice appears next to me, her skin bright red from the tea.

To my surprise, Alice then draws out a Clockwork Bomb and tosses it at the Eyepots. The Bomb activates the moment it hits the ground. The Eyepots instantly attack it, instead of us. The Bomb explodes after a few stabs, which stuns both walking teapots.

"Now," Alice calls to me. "While they're distracted!"

I then catch on to what she's planning; use the Bomb as a distraction for a big attack. I quickly switch the Hammer to 'RM', prop it up, and try to target both Eyepots into one shot. I fire when I see both of their eyes, but my shot only blows up one of them. The other one lumbers on its three legs for several seconds, like it's lost all sense of balance.

"Time for some payback," Alice announces. I look at her in confusion, and then in battle-charged satisfaction as I realize just what she means.

We teleport away from the Eyepot's range as I change the Hammer back to 'MM'. Alice and I then teleport towards the Eyepot together, and we both deal a swift blow to the creature's eye. The impact shatters the Eyepot's frame into pieces, the Hammer's explosion not hurting us at all.

* * *

White mist flows across my skin, its touch cool and soothing against the Eyepot's scalding tea. My wounds slowly repair themselves as Alice moves to a smaller platform on the far right. I can barely see an image of Alice's old family house there; this must be another family memory. A geyser of molten metal briefly blocks Alice's path over, but she eventually gets there.

When she breaks the memory, I hear Alice's father say, " _With gas laid on, Alice, we'll go to Brighton on what we save on beeswax candles and oil._ "

The words confuse me, but I dismiss it since I'm not a member of Alice's family. 'Brighton' is probably some beautiful paradise when compared to London's chaos and poverty. The two giant teapots with eyes in the distance that spew molten metal into the river don't make that chaos any easier to understand.

Alice comes back, and then heads over to the far left platform to pick up a golden bottle. My wounds are fully healed by the time she gets back and we continue to the far back of the central platform.

We jump down to a small balcony, and then jump back to a lower platform, using teeth as our guide. A keyhole leads to a hidden chamber with a lever in front of a brown and gray teapot. The teapot's lid wiggles as steam juts out from within the main machine.

"This will help us," Alice comments as she moves over to the lever and tries to pull it to the right. It takes a few seconds, and a very unladylike grunt to move it where she wants. A gate to our left lowers upon her success, and she runs towards it with the words, "Come on! We need to keep moving!" I follow as quickly as I can.

Once we stand on the gate, I try not to look down at the deep abyss of falling molten metal. We're separated from it by just one layer of solid surface. That's nowhere near comforting.

A circular platform rises up and down to our right, and we take that up as high as it can go. We then jump over a small geyser of the molten river to reach another circular platform that rises higher than the first. This brings us to the right platform, and a quick jump over another geyser brings us back to the center space.

Two more Insidious Ruin emerge and attack us, but we each take care of one of them with no problem. We then move to a new platform that rises to a large chamber several feet above us.

I quickly see this platform is trickier than the others; almost instantly after it reaches its highest point, it drops straight into the molten metal like a stone. Alice pays it no mind, and I keep up as best I can with her onto the platform. We then jump off and approach another oval metal doorway.

As we walk into the next room, I reflect on what's happened. Alice and I seem to work well as a team in combat. However, I still feel discomforted about Alice's attitude towards me outside of battle. That look she gave me when I spoke out without knowing what I said makes me think she doesn't fully trust me.

I've shown I have skill in combat, even if it's just instinctive; what else do I have to do to make her fully trust me as a person?

Then again, with my memories mostly lost to me, can I even trust myself? This is so frustrating…

* * *

 **Well, that'll be all for now. I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. The next one will come when I have it ready, but I'll try to not make it too long a wait.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	10. Hot to Cold, Hidden to Discovered

**Hello again, readers! Time for the next chapter! 10 chapters in, that's something to take note of, right? Let's see if we can get 10 more!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' is owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including all beta content for the game. The 'American McGee's Alice' series belongs to their original creators. The author owns his OC, and all custom content introduced in the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

We enter a small corridor that turns to the right, and then goes straight again. Another metal door lies open, but we pause as the Cheshire Cat emerges in a small space to the left.

"Flip the lever to cool the metal," is all he says before he vanishes off. I look at Alice, but she doesn't seem to realize what he meant. Is the Cat actually giving applicable advice this time? Alice shrugs her shoulders and moves through the door, and I follow behind.

We enter a large chamber with another stream of molten metal inside. The stream moves through the chamber's center, and bubbles out of two cauldrons that hang by the upper left. Pipes stream across the ceiling and lead to a few more loudspeakers. These speakers play the _exact_ same message as before.

I glance to the right and see several more circular platforms, or columns, rise and fall against molten geysers. To our immediate right is a poster showing more of the crazed rabbit from before; his finger points at me, the words " _All Aboard For Progress_ " printed below the picture.

The familiar sounds of scuttling metal and groaning voices alerts me to an Eyepot, and more Insidious Ruin, that emerge on our platform. One Eyepot also stands in the darkness of a higher platform. It doesn't matter right now; a barbaric thought, perhaps, but I don't want to overthink things.

Battle is joined. Alice swiftly teleports and runs by the Insidious with slicing Vorpal Blade. I charge the closest Eyepot with the Hammer. I angle my swing down as I thumb the Hammer's power switch, and knock the creature to the ground while cracking the edges of its single eye like glass. I draw the Hammer back for another swing… and lose all concentration as I feel burning tea scald my skin once again. That second Eyepot did this, the cheating bastard!

I roar in pain-fueled anger as I swing again and again at the downed Eyepot. Each bash against its metal body helps me withstand my pain. The Eyepot breaks into pieces under my assault; each swing makes a small explosion that rings like music. Teeth and rose petals fall from its body as its eye, still unbroken, rolls away from the carcass and into the molten river below.

I turn to the distant Eyepot and shout, "Payback time!"

Alice moves to my side as I harshly pull back the 'Mode Switch' to 'RM' and aim it at the shrouded monster. I fire a charged shot as Alice shoots several pepper bullets at the same time. Our combined assault makes the Eyepot explode into bits.

"That's what you _get_ , cheating scum," I shout to where the Eyepot once stood. "Don't mess with us unless you stand in the light and _face_ us!"

"A worthy challenge to these enemies," Alice says after a moment's silence. "But, some acts are better done in the shadows. Don't let your anger get to your head, like before."

I look at Alice. She stares at me with that discontent gaze from when I said the Dormouse and March Hare took the initiative on a leadership opportunity. I guess my taunting isn't a good idea after all. Is this another 'barbaric' trait of mine that should be corrected?

Alice moves to the right with no further comment. I follow her as she jumps across the rising and falling columns, avoiding the liquid geysers that spring up every few seconds. Once we reach the far right end, we cross over two more platforms that smaller geysers propel up. The geysers don't splash the molten metal through the platform's surface and onto our feet, but the heat is still quite strong.

Our next obstacle is two metal slabs that rise above the river. Molten metal pours onto them every few seconds. I mentally time the number of seconds the metal streams down, and move almost as quickly as Alice across them when a clear point presents itself. The plate's heat makes my feet sting as I move off them, but I manage to keep my pace alongside Alice.

The fear of molten metal turning my skin into a burning corpse, is much stronger than my worry about burnt feet.

We then reach the snow globe and lever. Up close, the lever is actually a valve. A few boxes rest along the right wall, which Alice slashes apart to get their contents. One Slithering Ruin jumps at Alice from within a box, but it doesn't harm her. I note the myriad of pipes that connect the snow globe to the surrounding area, and beyond my sight.

Alice moves over to the valve and turns it with a heavy grunt. The temperature drops so suddenly the air in my lungs feels solid. I see my breath rise in front of me as all the molten metal turns gray, drains down to a much lower level, and then stops moving. The draining process reveals a couple of vents that instantly start to emit steam that leads back to the first platform we entered in.

Unfortunately, a Menacing Ruin emerges on the first platform. Seconds later, a Bolterfly flies into my sight, and I swear I hear the high-pitched gurgle of an Insidious Ruin from below. I try to move my cold limbs again; the Automaton Hammer's _throb_ gives me some warmth as I quickly thumb its power switch.

"Take out the Ruin on the floor below," Alice commands from very close to me. "I'll deal with the Bolterfly nests above."

I stare at her, my mind as slow as my body right now. She stares me dead in the eye and shouts, " _Move_!" That gets me going.

I move to the left and jump down to one of the metal platforms we crossed over. The cold surface now makes my feet throb inside my boots; I don't know how long I have until they go numb. One Insidious looks at me from just below, its mask frozen in a sad expression as fire streams from the pipes on its back. I narrow my eyes as I jump down.

My jump doesn't go as I plan; instead of landing _next_ to my target, I land _on top of_ the Insidious and crush it beneath my boots. The Ruin bubbles and oozes around me, but the cold numbs any pain from the impact. I shudder as the smell of burnt skin reaches my chilled nostrils. More Insidious shamble towards me, their little legs moving across the frozen liquid metal with ease.

I let the momentum of the Hammer's swings carry me forward and into the fray. Luckily, the Insidious don't dodge very well. Unluckily, their strikes hurt just as much as before. I feel too cold to focus on teleports, and instead just move from point to point with each swing.

* * *

After what feels like several minutes of swinging, dealing damage, and taking damage, all the Insidious are smashed back to the puddles they rose out of. White mist flows over my lower body and back as I take a momentary reprieve. As I look at the pools of my enemies, I notice a small corridor beneath where the Menacing still stands and loudly grunts. I move over here, the Ruin's snorts louder as I slide against a wall.

' _Wait…_ ' Even my thoughts are slower because of the cold. ' _Those snorts sound very close._ '

I take a careful look around me, and spot a Snout mounted on a wooden board up above me. It snorts every few seconds, despite the cold. Come to think of it, was the Snout submerged under molten metal when we first arrived in here? How did it survive?

' _No, no,_ ' I remind myself. ' _Don't think too hard about Wonderland, remember? It isn't your world, anyway, it's Alice's. If anyone should be thinking about small things like this, it's her._ '

I make a mental note to inform Alice about the Snout, and then move back out and to the right so I can see how she is doing.

The Menacing is focused solely on her. It tosses fireballs her way as she wipes out a Bolterfly nest that I can barely see near the darkened ceiling. I switch the Hammer to 'RM' and prop it on my shoulders as I take a knee. My tired eyes make it hard for me to get a good shot. If I miss this, I'll get its attention, but I won't have dealt any damage. But, I should probably do _something_.

I fire my shot at maximum charge, when the Menace's masks are in plain sight. Even so, the shot hits its upper body instead of the masks. The explosion still blows one mask off, and the creature cries out as it shields its remaining masks with its small arms. I switch the Hammer back to 'MM', pump my legs over to the nearest vent, and ride the air it provides towards the enemy.

Alice jumps down from above at the same time, Pepper Grinder in hand. The Menace roars with sudden fury and launches something new at us both. I feel a sharp object pierce my suit and puncture my chest as I fly back off the platform. I land hard on my back. A loud, "Oof!" from Alice tells me she also got hit.

"Ruin darts!?" Alice sounds pissed off as we both stand back up, me slower than her. "It's never done that before. Must be a new trick, bloody bastard! Take that side!"

The ending sentence is directed to me as Alice points to the same vent I just used. She runs to another vent that I see leads to the same place. I run over and ride the steam up again, just as Alice rises with Vorpal Blade in hand.

We skirt around the Menace in a tight circle, slashing or smashing whenever we can, and duck, dodge, or teleport when we get attacked. The Menace tries to swipe at us both, but it moves too slowly to keep up. It soon melts into its base form with a bubbling scream. Alice instantly absorbs the teeth and rose petals it spits out.

"Well," Alice says after a few deep breaths. "That was… complicated."

"I don't think 'complicated' describes that fight as much as 'against overwhelming odds'," I reply with a small smile. I also feel happy because this room's cold no longer slows me down.

Alice flashes a smile back, but then turns to the frozen cauldrons with the words, "I saw a Liddel memory over there; I'll be right back. You just stay and rest up."

"Yes, _mother_." Alice rolls her eyes at my snarky comment, but shows no other emotional reaction.

"Hang on," I then say before Alice starts to move. "There's a Snout below us, in a small corridor. Pepper it up before we leave."

Alice looks at me for a moment, and then nods and heads down there first. She vents up to my location a short while later, and then jumps and twirls over to the right. I watch the route she takes, and realize that she's going the same way we just went.

Alice's movement, as always, is elegant and precise as she leaps between columns, and runs across the platforms. She executes a three-point twirl to reach the highest cauldron, but almost falls off the edge. A swift grab at the cauldron's edge is all that prevents her from crashing down to the floor far below.

It takes a second for Alice to climb to the cauldron's top, and she doesn't fall inside. The voice of Alice's father reaches my ears, but quieter than before, which I reason to be distance from where the memory is; " _Remember, Alice, don't curse the dark or the cold when you're in the library at night._ "

' _Alice's father, and her family as a whole, seem to have treated her well,_ ' I think as I stand up and slowly move to the right side of the room with no real purpose in mind. ' _I can see why she is having so much pain with them no longer being around. Do I want to be an equal to them, or is that impossible? Alice respects some parts of me, but how much respect do I want? How much respect do I want from this world, actually?_ '

* * *

As I walk along the far right columns, and the frozen metal beneath them, something fades away to my right. I stop and look at what changed; there's a small keyhole where there was once metal. My mind flashes back to that covered space in the Vale of Tears, beside the waterfall. That place had been hidden by a rock. Why, then, would the Hatter's Domain not have things hidden by metal?

I use my Shrink Sense to walk through the keyhole. I plan to just look around and report what I find to Alice. If there's a memory for her, or a Snout she can pepper up, all the better. She does need every chance available to get stronger, right? This is, once again, _her_ Wonderland under threat. I hiccup twice as I think this through.

I come into another small corridor, frozen molten metal in piles along the corner of each wall. I grow back to normal size and take careful steps forward. The air grows warmer until I cross the final corner. I now stand before a massive open space within the Domain. More of the giant teapots with blinking eyes stand to my right. They pour molten metal out of their spouts and into the river below.

A Snout with feathery wings flaps beside a series of pipes to my left. Sparks fly in the air as I notice the hypodermic needle from Alice's Nan Sharpe floats in the back of the room, next to some metal boxes like the ones Alice smashed apart before.

Then, I notice something very different. On the pipes stands what looks like a brown-and-white clock with human limbs. Its hands are metal claws that look built to grab things and crush them, and its feet seem a bit too large for its size. Its face is like an actual clock, hands and all.

I realize it sees me when it waves at me with its left claw-hand. I freeze up, stunned at this walking clock and how it's saying hi againt this hellish backdrop.

The walking clock reaches behind its back, and pulls out some kind of stone. Then, to my surprise, it throws the stone to me. I reach out with my hands, and actually manage to grab the stone without falling to my death.

I draw back to more solid metal, and take a look at what's been given to me. The 'stone' is actually a long and flat piece of something that reflects the light around it in a crystal-clear image. I tilt it in my hand, and see my face for the first time since I arrived in the Domain. My eyes shine a bit darker than before, like they've adapted to the darker surroundings. I look back to the creature, who stands there like it's waiting for something.

Wait, how are you supposed to respond when you get something? Oh, right, you thank them!

It takes me a few moments to shout, "Thank you," to the creature, even though I have no real idea as to what this reflective stone is for. It salutes me with one of its claw-hands, and then climbs up the pipes. I look at the stone again; it fits in the palm of my hand and doesn't hurt me as I hold it. I pocket it and go back to the main area.

Alice's first words to me when I come back to the main room are, "Where did you go just now?" She isn't as angry as I imagined she'd be; rather, she seems more curious.

"There are some extra things through here," I explain as I stay close to the keyhole to reveal it to Alice. "However, there was… something else there, as well, that's gone now; some kind of clock with hands and feet. It gave me this stone, but I'm not sure what it's for. Do you think this is for you, actually?"

I give Alice the stone as I finish this, and she carefully looks it over.

"I don't recall this type of stone having any effect on my past," Alice says. "But, I advise you to keep it."

She then hands it back, and a beam of light bounces off it to a nearby wall. I pocket it as Alice continues with, "I'm more surprised that some denizen of Wonderland gave me something. Perhaps this place is trusting you?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," I reply as I shrug my shoulders. "But, I like the idea that Wonderland, and its people, are accepting me like they know me."

"Speaking of knowing things," Alice says as she steps toward me, "have you remembered something about your past, yet? It sounds to me like you have, and you _have_ been separated from me for a while."

I sigh, and nod my head slowly as I raise the Automaton Hammer.

"I saw a flashback when I first touched this hammer," I explain. "I saw myself running through something like this Domain, wanting to escape the Mad Hatter. Apparently, the Hatter was planning some crazed experiment that I was a subject for, but I was able to get out of his clutches. I wandered into a room full of potions, and was attacked by a spider with a human mask for a face."

"A Nightmare Spider…" Alice's statement stops my explanation; she strokes her chin in thought, her eyes glazed over. "The Hatter did keep those when he was the ruler of the Domain. They guarded the Insane Children Hatter had captured for his experiments." She then turns to me with a, "Sorry, please continue."

"I think the spider bit me before it threw me into the potions," I continue with a shaky voice. "The potions, or maybe the spider's venom, caused my body to turn into white dust before my eyes. I don't recall anything after that, but what I did see explains how I got this power."

I raise an arm up as I say this. Small trails of white mist move up the limb in response to my words.

"That's a good start," Alice reassures me. "But, do you know how you learned to use them? Do you know their underlying purpose? Think about that for a bit while I fetch whatever's behind this keyhole."

I nod to Alice before she shrinks down and walks through the keyhole. Once she's gone, I dismiss the Automaton Hammer with a thought, and pace back and forth across the frozen metal. My thoughts jumble together, pull apart, and scramble back together in a loop.

Alice returns a few minutes later and unshrinks with a smile on her face; whatever Nan Sharpe said to her back there must have lightened her mood. Her smile shrinks when she sees my tight-lipped expression, but I shake my head and smile back after a moment. I don't want to make _her_ any more upset about _my_ problems.

We move on, using the vents and hanging cauldrons to reach another oval door that leads into an open pipe large enough for us to walk through side-by-side. The door slams shut behind us after we take a few steps.

* * *

After a brief diversion on a dead-end, we reach a small platform that broadens out to a large cylindrical open space. A central pipe keeps the whole thing together, while several smaller pipes provide additional support. A few steam vents float between the pipes, none of them near enough for us to use. As an extra fear factor, the space below us is covered in dense shadow.

I look up as the Cheshire Cat materializes on a platform above us, and near a switch. His ears give a quick twitch as he tells us, "Steady now. Gather your nerve. Jump to the first vent, and ride the currents up."

"I assume there's a safer way to do this," Alice asks the Cat. "But, you're not going to tell us?"

"Please," the Cat scoffs with a wave of its paw. "You two are more than clever. Steam provides locomotion!"

He vanishes before we can say anything more, but what he said does make sense; we can use the vents to travel from platform to platform. Alice seems to think the same idea as she peppers the nearby switch, which causes a vent to rise from the dark abyss beneath us. She rides the steam up to the next platform, and I catch Alice's surprised look as my lower body turns to mist when I ride up to her.

"I guess that trick replaces the buoyancy I get with my dress," she comments as I land with reformed legs on solid metal. "But, it still looks quite odd to me. In fact, the whole reason you got this control over mist still sounds odd. Not that that's going against you as a person, I mean."

"It's fine, Alice," I say with a wave not so unlike the Cheshire Cat's wave to us seconds ago. "Let's just keep moving."

Alice and I move up more vents, pepper switches, and cross platforms for several minutes. Our speed is hampered by the fact that only one of us can be on a vent at a time. We stop only once to break a weaker wall and go through a small keyhole behind it. This brings us to a breach in the outer metal walls of a narrow corridor that's on level with those giant blinking teapots, and a flying Snout. The Snout leaves a bread basket when it gets peppered; said bucket has three golden teeth for Alice to absorb.

After more vent-hopping, as I call it, we reach what appears to be the highest platform. Another Pressure Pad rests here, and a group of narrow beams connect to another oval door that leads outside. Alice places a Clockwork Bomb on the Pad, and I follow her as we rush out to open sky and what the Domain considers fresh air.

* * *

The sky is now a darkish-red as we step onto a checkered platform. There's a valve right next to us. Gears move in horizontal patterns in front of us, or are bunched together and connected to a large platform to our far left. Several small buildings with glowing red windows float beyond our reach, some of them below us and others above. Alice slices open a few boxes nearby while I note these things; she's probably seen stuff like this before, so it doesn't concern her as much.

The Cheshire Cat appears before us on the same checkered space, his grin as wide as ever. He looks to me, and then at Alice, but doesn't speak until Alice breaks all the boxes. He then says, "They say a cat has nine lives, Alice. I hope you both have as many."

He vanishes before we can utter any sort of word against him; he's learnt from last time, which makes me all the more nervous about his 'help'.

Alice moves to the valve and turns it on her own. This causes a steam vent to rise up and activate, which in turn lets us reach the moving gear. Alice then shrinks down for a second, then grows back and leaps into thin air. A second later, I gawk as she stands on nothing I can see.

After a second of mute surprise, I use my Shrink Sense for a moment. I now see the purple path Alice stands on, invisible to my bigger self. The Cat's advice really _does_ pay off.

The gear soon reaches close to the other checkered platform. I see several Madcaps, one of whom is shielded, patroll among two large teapot-like sculptures made of rusted metal. Piles of scrap and stone block off all but a single path to the left, but that can be dealt with later. The gear starts to move back to its former location, and Alice jumps on from the invisible platform when it gets to her.

"Madcaps up ahead," I report to her as I summon the Automaton Hammer into my hands. "Ready to test our new weapons against them?"

"More than ready," Alice replies, a wild grin on her face as she draws out a Clockwork Bomb. As we jump to the large platform, I notice an Eyepot scuttle into view, as well. Alice quickly tosses the Clockwork Bomb towards it, which keeps it distracted while we target the weaker Madcaps.

To my joy, the Madcap's bodies crumple before the Hammer's wrath. The shielded Madcap proves tougher; when I smash against his defense, I freeze up as the shield shatters. Two other Madcaps charge me, and I have to teleport back from them. No sense in going berserk against one enemy, like I did against that Eyepot from earlier.

An Eyepot cries out, but I focus on the Madcaps as I run back towards them. A new attack idea comes to mind, and I try it out. I thumb the Hammer's switch as I let its motion carry me into a whirling spin across the platform.

I spin again and again in a slow forward direction. It takes all of my focus in order to not fall off the platform's edge. I hit a few Madcaps on the head and break their helmets. When I force myself to stop, they're out of my range.

Blue butterflies fly by as Alice teleports in front of me. She reforms long enough to decapitate a Madcap with the Vorpal Blade. She moves like a storm as I raise my Hammer up and follow her. The last few Madcaps fall to our combined assault; I smash bone and break skulls as Alice slices skin and rips holes in green-skinned chests.

Then, suddenly, all the enemies around us are dead, rose petals and teeth lying around for Alice to collect. I feel satisfied with my effort, and Alice also looks pleased as she absorbs the remaining items on the platform.

Alice walks onto a small connecting beam to reach a few more boxes while I look over our next path. The only logical path I can see, even after I shrink down, is to jump onto a toadstool spring that lies between us and another small platform that leads back indoors.

"We have a spare moment," Alice says as she approaches me. "I'm going to upgrade the Vorpal Blade again. The Pepper Grinder is indeed serviceable, but I prefer to get up close and personal to my problems."

Alice summons the weapon and focuses. Hundreds of teeth move down her arms, and into the blade, as a bright light makes me shield my eyes. When the light clears, the Blade looks the same. Alice gives it a test swing, and she executes a vicious four-slash combo in just a few seconds. The trail the blade leaves behind is now blue with a red edge, a darker shade to my eye.

"See if you can upgrade the Hammer as well," Alice says to me after she finishes her tests. "Now would be a good time to do so."

"I'm not sure the Hammer can be upgraded," I say as I look at the Hammer still in my hands. "The Hatter said the design never made it past prototype stage, and it's already quite powerful as is."

"It doesn't hurt to try," Alice insists. "Just focus on the weapon's energy and see how it could be improved. That's what I've been doing with the teeth I've been collecting; they're a cost I pay to make the changes I want."

"I'll give it a shot," I doubtfully say. I move to look at the open expanse of floating buildings below me, the Hammer in both my hands. I then close my eyes and focus on the Hammer's _throb_ , the sensation that conveys to me that the weapon is ready to use.

I slow my breathing as tingles of heat and energy flow through my body. Unfortunately, I don't feel anything beyond heat and power. After many, many seconds of this feeling, I open my eyes and let out a deep sigh.

I don't feel disappointed, or upset, at this failure to unlock anything new, but it is a bit of a surprise to find I've already tapped the most potential I can get.

"There's nothing," I slowly say as I turn back to Alice. "I've gotten all I can from the Hammer." I then step towards her with a sudden idea; "If _you_ want to use it, like I used your Vorpal Blade for a time—"

"No, no," Alice quickly says with a raised hand. "I'm fine using the weapons I have now. Besides, you are probably more attached to that hammer than you realize; it would be a bad idea for both of us if I take it away. Let's just get moving."

Alice brushes past me as she finishes; I follow with a slow step as we leap down to, and bounce off of, the spring I saw earlier. We move through yet another corridor that angles to the left, and enter a chamber that makes the other ones look small by comparison…

* * *

 **All right, that'll be all for now. People who have played the game should know what's coming next. I just didn't want to spoil it right now.**

 **Please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest ideas as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	11. Melted Skin and Crushed Bones

**Hello, readers! Here's the next chapter for you all to enjoy.**

 **Happy Labor Day, to those who celebrated it earlier this week. Unfortunately, my work here doesn't really get a break. Then again, I do enjoy writing these stories for you all, so that is its own reward.**

 **Oh, and thank you to the one Guest reader who says I am the only author to update constantly. I'm not sure that'll always be the case, but I'll try my best to post these chapters on a regular basis.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series, is owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including all beta content for the games. The author owns his OC and any custom elements he introduces into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

A massive river of molten metal streams down the main part of this chamber. Half of this river is in front of us, and half to our left. I quickly see a figure inside a large oval container, or platform, that hangs over another black abyss which both halves of the molten river fall into. This figure is a mouse wearing a white-and-blue checkered vest, and a small teacup for a hat. It also has wheels in place of legs, and its right eye is a metallic red. Its left eye, which I see as it looks closely at us, is held open by clamps. A strange key winds around and around in its back, like it's keeping the mouse alive.

"Dormouse," Alice suddenly shouts to the half-mechanical rodent. "What's your game, here? What are you and the March Hare doing to the Domain that's so important? Answer me!"

"Your presence here is unwelcome," the mouse responds in a grated female voice, just like the loudspeakers in the other chambers talked. "We have a mission to complete, and you, Alice, are an intolerable annoyance!"

As she says this, a hanging cauldron with two long, white arms attached to the sides, uses those arms to open its bottom. This releases more molten metal into the river below.

"Some like it hot," the Dormouse continues as the armed cauldron moves along the right river and releases more of its contents. "But, _no one_ likes it _this_ hot!"

The mouse then laughs wildly at us. A quick glance at Alice tells me she doesn't really care about this rodent's attitude. Frankly, I'm more worried about burning in the molten metal than what the Dormouse says.

"Time your jumps on the columns there," Alice orders me as she points to several columns that rise and fall in a pattern above the molten river. "Let's move!"

I grit my teeth as we jump to the first column, which falls a second before I expect to land on it. We still do land on it, just as the cauldron with arms moves past us and drops molten metal very close to us.

"She's using the Hatter's arms to rain that metal on our heads," Alice realizes out loud. "Sounds more like what a rat would do than an honest mouse."

I start to reply, but my words turn into a scream as, once again, burning-hot tea scalds my skin and soaks my clothing. I look around for the culprit, and find an Eyepot standing on a metal square across the abyss. I quickly summon the Automaton Hammer, switch it to 'RM', take a knee, and fire a shot back at the monster.

The shot arcs wide and splashes into the river, despite my having aimed right at the creature. The only word I can say at this sight is, " _Fuck!_ "

"Silly boy," the Dormouse taunts at me. "That's a weapon of the Hatter. Those relics always fall apart when you least want them to. Toss it into the scrap pile, that's all its good for!"

I glare at the mouse, and suddenly see a more mangled Dormouse in its place, its legs and right arm cut off and replaced with metal. I blink, and the rodent is back to its current self.

"Come on," Alice says as she tugs my arm. "Let's get out of the Eyepot's range."

I move with Alice across the other moving columns, but with one last glance to the Dormouse. A feeling of anguish sticks in my chest as I try to picture a similarity between the current creature and the mangled rodent I saw in that split second. Why is _anguish_ there, of all feelings?

* * *

Once we reach the farthest column, a switch comes to view. Alice peppers it as I keep a watch on the Eyepot. Thankfully, we are out of its range. I can't stop a smile as I see it scuttle back and forth on its square in a futile effort.

"Keep focused," Alice orders me. I turn back to her just as two metal platforms rise from the molten river. Additional molten metal gets poured on them every few moments. Once again, Alice and I have to time our jumps across these platforms. Even with good timing, though, the plates feel hot to my feet as I run across them.

A toadstool spring pops up close to the last platform, and we use that to reach a higher space covered on three sides by large metal crates. Insidious Ruin emerge in our path, in front of a large valve. I flick the Hammer's power on and charge in as Alice moves over to some boxes on the left. I vent out my anger on these creatures as I bash their liquid bodies to the black tar they really are.

Ruin splatters the walls when I finish. My arms strain to lift the Hammer as I pant for breath. Alice gives me a quick pat on the back as she passes by and turns the valve. The river on our side cools, but we also see Bolterfly nests drop onto two of the columns.

"Just stop trying," the Dormouse then shouts at us. "I've got the arms you need. Well, strictly speaking, the Hatter needs them. But, that doesn't matter now, because I'm going to melt you like lobsters in a boiling pot!"

I grit my teeth at the rodent's taunts, but Alice walks back to me with a calm expression.

"I saw a keyhole when we were crossing the platforms," she tells me. "You can stand guard down there while I go and look."

I reply with a, "Sure thing," and follow her down to said hole, which is alongside the now-frozen metal river. Alice shrinks down, and I keep watch for any Bolterflies that dare come over here. I also see another of those vents beneath another switch; guess that's the next thing we have to do.

Alice emerges with the words, "Only a bottle," and she moves back up to where the valve was. I try to mention the switch to her, but she doesn't seem to hear me as she moves over to a weaker wall near the valve, places a Clockwork Bomb there, and detonates it a second later using her remote. The explosion doesn't harm her in the slightest, and I run up to her as we land on the frozen river close to where we started.

The Bolterflies instantly move toward us; Alice draws the Pepper Grinder as I switch the Hammer to 'RM'. Alice takes quick, precise shots at the mechanical bugs while I focus on the nests themselves. The distant Eyepot rains liquid hell down on us from afar. I have to teleport after each shot to avoid the long-range tea.

I get some Bolterflies on me, as well, and their sting hurts just as much as in the Vale. I refuse to get enraged, though, and do my best to focus on the nests. I don't hear, or see, the Doormouse's cauldron move around as I fight.

* * *

It takes several tense, pulse-pounding minutes of dodging and shooting to blow up the nests and rid the air of Bolterflies. Alice looks just as worn out as I feel, but we force ourselves forward as the Eyepot continues its bombardment. We cross under the columns to reach the alcove with the vent and switch from before.

I point towards the switch as we step out of the Eyepot's range, and Alice tiredly nods before she peppers the switch up. We both have to dodge the steam vent as it moves out of the alcove and activates. We use the vent to reach a new area to our right, and then stop. There's nothing but molten metal in front of us, large grates keeping the river from overflowing. The grates look too weak to climb on, and they're probably burning hot, too.

"Take that, then!" the Dormouse yells at us from safety. "The path "least traveled" is now impossible to negotiate! Hahaha! You two can't reach me, no, not at all!"

We both take a moment to catch our breath, but it is Alice who first gets the idea to use Shrink Sense. I quickly follow suit, and see a hidden path that crosses the river. However, even more of the liquid pours from a pipe above into the middle of the path. Alice absorbs some teeth as she walks across, while I have to contend myself with the hiccups I get while shrunken. There is some amusement in a purple drawing of Alice standing victorious over a pile of slain monsters, Vorpal Blade in hand.

We grow back to normal size, and drop to the other side of the river. Several metal squares rest above the liquid to provide a semi-connected path. Insidious Ruin and Eyepots, including the bastard one from earlier, approach us just after we land. I switch the Hammer to 'MM' just as Alice readies her upgraded Vorpal Blade.

"Move to one side," she commands. "Split up our foes. There's too little space to fight together."

I obey her order and leap across the river to a nearby square, separate from Alice. I then have to leap _again_ when the Dormouse's armed cauldron appears above me and opens itself up. Molten metal pours onto where I once stood. I wave my arms on my new square to balance myself.

Two Insidious, and the bastard Eyepot, move towards me. They move across the squares easier than me. The Insidious reach me first, but the squares force them to advance in a single line. I move as close to them as I dare, and use the Hammer's swing to slam one of them right into the river. It instantly melts into a black puddle that floats above the lava. I then jump back as the next Insidious charges me.

Once I move back, the creature moves to the side as the bastard Eyepot scuttles towards me. I clench the Hammer in my hands, and stand my ground. When the creature raises its two front spiked legs to skewer me, I deal an uppercut swing to it. The impact's explosion almost knocks me off the square, but it also cracks the Eyepot's 'eye' as it falls inert. The second Insidious doesn't stand a chance against me, and I turn to kill the bastard teapot.

However, I execute a different plan when I look over to Alice. She's cornered against the second Eyepot, and the Dormouse's cauldron.

"Alice!" I cry out. "Switch targets!"

Alice looks at me, and then teleports several times towards me in a few seconds. I teleport over the river towards the second Eyepot, and pound it into submission with wild swings. The Hammer's momentum carries me from swing to swing, but scalding liquid burns my back before I deal the killing blow. I teleport away, and look up at the Dormouse's armed cauldron above my former position. The liquid on my back makes moving hurt like a _motherfucker_.

The pain fades to a sharp sting as my mists do their work. Still, I try to focus on other things. There had better a be a Shrinking Violet nearby, or this pain's going to be here a while.

I teleport to Alice's position. The other Eyepot is already dead, and she peppers a switch on the far wall. Alice's eyes widen as she turns to see me, and her eyes widen even more as she runs over and looks at the burn on my back. It probably looks as bad as it feels

"Are you able to keep moving like that?" she asks with concern. I nod my head even as a fresh sting makes my legs shake. It's like the burn has fingers that reach into my muscles and rip them to shreds. Even so, I force myself to stand tall and say to Alice, "I'm fine. Lead the way."

"Be sure to keep up," Alice warns me, but I see doubt in her eyes as she turns to where we need to go next. We move to the far side of the river, where larger bits of metal of various sizes and shapes drift down toward the abyss. I have to focus to jump across these, and I reach a platform above the river. Alice leads us towards another valve.

Two more Insidious Ruin rise from the floor to block our path. Alice places a hand in front of me with the words, "These are mine. You just watch."

I stay still as she draws the Vorpal Blade and casually walks over to the small beasts. They stare at her until one of them gets brave enough to charge. Alice slashes into its mask before it gets close. She continues to slash without pause until the Insidious screams and melts away. The second one tries to attack her from behind, but she teleports away from its swipe. She sprints at it and, with six quick slashes and a twirl, kills it.

Once again, I feel awe at Alice's skill. She smiles confidently at me, and then turns the nearby valve until we hear a _click_. The rest of the river freezes up, and a steam vent rises to just behind the Dormouse's location. The rodent has a bitter look on her face as she looks down on us, her plan apparently foiled.

"A temporary setback, this," she announces as a smaller column in her container starts to rise up the pipe that connects to this chamber's ceiling. "A minor hindrance. A trivial impediment! I'll just move along, but I'll deal with you both later. You two will never stop our grand plan!"

"Shut up, you malformed rodent," I mutter as the Dormouse fully vanishes from our sight. I follow Alice out to the frozen river, and she points to the Dormouse's container as the armed cauldron hangs over a large chute. The frozen and drained river reveals the chute to our eyes, with the words, 'RUBBISH' on the chute's sides. The Dormouse's container has a visible lever inside it; the lever may be our ticket to getting the arms off the cauldron.

"Those are the Hatter's arms on the cauldron," Alice states. "We just need to pull the lever, and then follow them down the rubbish chute. Hatter had said the machines will do the rest."

"Those had better be his arms," I say with a growl as the burn's pain comes back in full force. "I don't want him picky with what type of hands he gets."

Alice gives a brief chuckle at this. We use the new steam vent to reach the container. I stand to the far side as Alice pulls the lever with another grunt. The rubbish chute opens up, and the Hatter's arms drop down.

"Let's go," Alice calls to me as she jumps down the chute after the arms. I swallow and follow into the chute's darkness. The air roars in my ears as I feel my butt press along one wall of the chute. I can't control my pace.

I land a few seconds after I see the light of the Hatter's chamber, and I land hard on my butt and lower back, just below where the burn is. I cry out, and then slump to the mostly-flooded floor as my body gives out on me from the pain.

I hear the Hatter shout, "Mobility will make a nice change!" as I slip into a black embrace.

* * *

My senses slowly return as I realize I'm still in the Hatter's chamber, my lower body propped against a wall. I don't know how much time has passed until I see Alice's face _very_ close to mine. My cheeks grow hot as I turn my eyes away from hers; she pulls back as soon as she sees my movement. The Hatter has fallen asleep again when I glance over to him, the giant hands above his head and torso holding his arms for him.

"Ah, you're awake," Alice quickly says. "You were out for a few minutes. I knew that burn would become serious if left unchecked. I propped you against the wall so you'd rest easier. I should have taken you back to a Shrinking Violet, or something."

"This isn't your fault, Alice," I say as I slowly stand up while using the wall as support. "I think I let my pride get the better of me."

I reach a hand to my back and carefully rub around the burned area. I draw my hand back the moment I feel a painful sting. The burn's still there, that's for sure.

"Do you think you'll be able to continue?" Alice asks with a concerned look. "Your back was starting to peel really badly a while ago."

"I'll be fine if we can take it slow for a while," I say as I walk over to Alice without falling over. "Don't worry so much about me. We're in a war for your world, after all."

"Who told you we were in a war?" Alice raises an eyebrow as she asks this. "I mean, I do realize the larger significance of our battles, but I never outright talked about war."

"Blame the Cheshire Cat," I say with narrowed eyes. "He spoke to me a couple of times while we were separated, and he mentioned subtlety is often better than brute force in war." After a moment to consider what I just said, I then comment, "I suppose I haven't been keeping that advice in mind recently, have I?"

"You'll learn soon enough, Kyle." Alice says this as she turns to the pressure pad. "Get to the elevator, I just need to place a bomb on the Pad."

I move over with a glance to the slumbering Hatter, and smirk at how happy he'll feel when he's fully assembled again. Alice places the bomb, and we both get on the elevator as it rises up to the clock face.

No new foes face us when we reach our destination, but we now turn to the right. We leap to another teacup-cart station. The difference with this station is a large hammer that looks like a fist pounding into the station's top over and over again. Alice slashes open boxes along the way, with two Slithering Ruin being no threat. We get into the cart the same way as before, and descend to the entrance of the large head with so many pistons.

* * *

We enter a gray-walled chamber with a few lights that don't make the place any more comfortable. A few large gears slowly turn on the far left as part of a huge abyss surrounding a path on that side leading to an unseen destination. The cart moves back after we get off, just as the Cheshire Cat appears before us.

"The dimensions of this desolate tract are unknown to all but the inhabitants," he says. Alice scoffs at this 'advice', and the Cat vanishes before we can say anything to him.

I slowly walk along our only path, held above the abyss by large chains, while Alice reaps the contents of some boxes to the side. The path leads to a narrow stairway that curves up, and I walk up one step at a time. The stair ends at a large pit, a door on the other end of the area, but beyond our reach.

" _A worker's paradise,_ " I hear the Dormouse's voice shout from more ornate speakers hung along the walls like in 'Smelling and Regurgitating'. " _And, you don't have to die! Not a cheap slogan; we really care! Fight the good fight! Work until you expire, substantial rewards in heaven! It is better to give labor then to receive pay for it. Words to live by! You can eat them, too!_ "

The same message repeats again, which gets me just as annoyed as the last time I heard this crap. The only difference is the name on the speakers reads, 'March Hare' instead of 'Dormouse'. Not that that's much of a difference, really; the Dormouse's image is still attached to the speakers.

I smell pepper as Alice draws the Grinder, and I cover my mouth to block a loud sneeze as Alice peppers up a switch that I see is behind a metal foot. The foot pounds the metal beneath it over and over again, which serves to block some of Alice's shots. She eventually gets it, which causes a metal platform to descend via chains to our level. We cross over the abyss with ease.

The next chamber is the same as the last one; a door across an abyss, a switch on the far wall. However, four metal robots rest on one wall, and a giant fan with three blades slowly turns in the other. Alice turns to the switch with the Grinder, but misses on her first few shots. I break open two metal boxes with the Hammer, and find a floating white pen among the rose petals and teeth.

The switch's activation opens the door for us, and lowers a large brown, stationary gear to our level via the pipe going through its center. However, Alice first moves to the memory and touches it. The voice of an older man who my mind interprets as high-class rings in my ears; " _Industry relies on suffering, obsolescence, and ruination, Alice. It's made the East End into a privy! Consider a simple farm life, in Australia, perhaps. We might liquidate what remains of your inheritance._ "

"How selfish of you to mention that, Doctor," Alice spits back at the voice. No doubt she notices my confused expression, because she then explains that this 'Doctor' is named Wilton J. Radcliffe, Alice's current solicitor and former lawyer of the Liddel family.

"He's a greedy bastard, really," Alice tells me with a venomous look on her face. "A miser, only helping people if it ultimately helps him. He represented me after my family's death, but he eventually got the notion that I was mad off my rocker. He made an official report on the tragedy, but I suspect he's lost interest in me, as a person. All he wants now is my money, and my old rabbit to boot!"

"And, you're going to give him neither," I state, just to make sure I get what Alice is saying. She nods sharply, to which I then ask, "How did he lose interest in you, as a person?"

"He claims I have an obsessive interest with fire, since that's how—" Alice suddenly pauses in her explanation and looks at me in what I think is guilt. "I never told you how my family died, did I?"

I shake my head, not trusting my mouth to not say the wrong thing. Alice turns away and takes a breath; this issue sounds serious to her, so I give her as much time as she needs.

"To put it simply," Alice explains with her eyes to the platform beneath us. "My old family house caught fire one night when I was 7. I was able to escape, but I was the only one who did. The damage to Wonderland you've seen is the result of the suffering I've dealt with over the many years since then. I've seen the worst part of humanity, and had to overcome my own trials to get here. People in London call me 'Fire Girl', as if the fire is all that matters to me. They don't care about the life I once had!"

Alice's fists clench so hard by the time she finishes this that I think her gloves will break apart from sheer force. I take a small step back from her, but she calms herself back down over the space of several tense seconds. When she finally looks at me, I see the corner of her eyes have turned red, like she was just about to cry. This brings up the question of Alice's emotional stability to mind, but I drop that question almost instantly since it would put me at odds with Alice.

"Thanks for telling me this, Alice," I slowly say before I leap to the large gear. She follows behind me, both of us silent as we enter the next area.

* * *

This area is much larger than the other two chambers, but only one path winds to the next oval-shaped door on the upper left corner. This path is split between raised hands for us to stand on and curving metal walkways. Both of these are separated from the abyss by metal grates, but the hands also have giant metal fists slamming down on them with loud _clangs_. A platform lit by a brighter bulb is to our far right, which is what we move over to.

I break open the boxes for Alice, but she is more occupied with a pressure pad. She stands on it as a test, and the nearest two smashing fists along the path rise up and stop moving. Alice places a Clockwork Bomb on the pad, and I do my best to keep up with her as we move underneath the fists. We then jump onto two moving gears that are intertwined with one another, their speed slow enough to not impede our movement. We reach an open hand just before a third smashing fist just as the Bomb explodes.

I try to get a rhythm to the smashing, but Alice just goes for it. She teleports through safely, thank goodness. I teleport through just as safely a few seconds later, and we reach a safe spot with a keyhole to our right. Alice shrinks down and goes inside while I look at where we should go next.

I smash open a weak wall nearby, and then a second one near the first. A Pressure Pad rests in a small room which the second wall blocked off, the path seemingly leading back to the two intertwined gears. I move onto the Pad, and the gears rise up a few feet to match the level of another platform to the far right.

Alice comes over to me as I walk out of the Pad. I raise a hand to the Pad, and she nods without saying anything. Alice remains silent as we race across the risen gears before the Clockwork Bomb she placed there blows up. We come to another platform with some boxes to the side of a risen space hidden by grates, and a small set of stairs leading to it like it's supposed to be special.

It turns out there _is_ something special about this area; one of the smashing fists is stuck into the grates, which forces it to wiggle up and down. The space it leaves beneath is enough for us to cross through when shrunken, but the next fist in line pounds just like all the others. I do see a purple arrow and Clockwork Bomb drawing on the floor that lead to another weak wall. I smash it open once we teleport by the fist, and Alice places another Bomb on the pressure pad inside.

We move out and onto another open hand to find the two gears have risen even further, and the oval door is finally open after all of our work. The feeling of success pumps extra energy into my legs as Alice and I race along the gear's surface to reach the door. We make it over a few seconds before the Bomb explodes, and the gears lower back to their original position.

The Dormouse's new mantra blares in my ears as the oval door closes behind us. Alice breaks some metal boxes along our path, which leads to a curving walkway over a glowing green pit. I try not to look down as an Eyepot jumps down to us from amidst a pile of stacked containers. The creature scuttles towards us, but we quickly act to take it out. Alice' stuns it with Pepper Grinder fire, and I smash it to bits with the Hammer.

' _Huh. I could get used to this,_ ' I think as we move to the next area. ' _These enemies don't seem too hard, once you get used to their tactics._ '

* * *

The next area has two pairs of large metal hands clapping together, one after the other. Their pace is too quick for us to just run through, but we are able to teleport through them one at a time. Once we pass the second one, we notice a toadstool spring to our right, which we use to get to a higher platform with a few teeth. A pressure pad rests to the far right, which opens the door beyond the clapping hands for us when I stand on it.

An Insidious Ruin then walks out of the next room and stumbles right into the path of the second pair of hands. Needless to say, it is crushed into a black pulp, and that sight makes me laugh _so hard_. Alice chuckles for a few seconds, as well, the sight of our enemy's apparent stupidity enough to provide amusement for her. I'm glad for that.

Alice soon places a Clockwork Bomb on the Pressure Pad, and we barely twirl, or leap, across both hands into the next room. The oval door closes shut behind us as I notice five raised square spaces on this room's floor marked with grey outlines. Two are to the left and right, and one in the room's center. The purpose of those squares becomes clear when five metal fists begin pounding down with no apparent pattern. To make matters worse, Insidious Ruin and Eyepots appear from the raised platforms to our left and right.

"Stay put," Alice warns me before I can make a move. "The Ruin will come to us. Don't risk getting crushed just yet."

She summons the Pepper Grinder as she says this, and cranks out pepper bullets like crazy at the left Eyepot. I switch the Hammer to 'RM" and aim at the right Eyepot. The fists get in the way of my aim, but they seem to block the Eyepot's aim, as well. It's a race to see who'll shoot, and hit, first.

I charge my shot to its fullest, and fire when I can see the Eyepot clearly. The shot flies a bit up from the jerk of kickback, but it still hits my target and stuns it. It won't stay that way for long, though, so I keep my thumb against the trigger as the gauges slowly tick down to when I can shoot again.

An Insidious gurgles from right next to me; I press the trigger in surprise. The Hammer fires a shot, but it arcs to the left and almost hits the closest metal fist. Then, to my confused joy, the Eyepot stands up from its stunned state and scuttles right into the path of the shot! I hear the explosion mix with the creature's death cry, but a slash to my side reminds me the Insidious is attacking me.

Pepper flies into my nose as Alice fills the creature with bullets. It stumbles back from the combined force… and is crushed underneath the center fist. My satisfaction is cut short when the Grinder emits a loud _shunk_ and releases a huge cloud of pepper. I flash back to when this happened in the Vale—it didn't end well for me, then.

The moment the pepper hits me, I sneeze up a storm. My legs jerk wildly on the floor, and my hands barely hold onto the Hammer. as I feel the sneeze fade, but my head start to ache. The pounding mixes with the pounding of the fists in my ears until everything I hear is loud noise. That noise turns into blind rage after I feel burning tea on my backside. I cry out as I feel my burn wound surge with fresh pain.

"I've got you," Alice calls out as I hear her run in front of me. I am forced to cover my nose as she releases another wave of pepper bullets, but she stops before the Grinder overloads again.

She soon calls out, "That's all of them, Kyle," and I force myself to stand up again. Strangely, the fists don't stop their pounding, which forces us to teleport carefully through them to reach the door. A red switch hangs on the wall, which Alice quickly peppers up to open our way onward.

Dr. Bumby's glasses float to our immediate right when we exit, which Alice walks over to and touches. Bumby's voice comes to our ears with dark words; " _Some insects eat their young, Alice. They have much to teach us, alive or dead._ "

"Why would Bumby mention that?" I ask Alice as we walk down a tight, dark corridor that curves to our right. Alice shakes her head with the response, "He's always been fascinated with obscure things like that; I've had to spend a year with him in therapy, so I know something about how he works."

Alice says no more as we move into the next area, but I suspect she's had a lot worse of an experience with Dr. Bumby. I've only known the man for a few days, and he rubs off on me in the wrong way. She's had to spend an entire _year_ with that man.

* * *

We enter a large chamber filled with rusty metal cages connected by pipes to the walls. Many of the cages each hold a bird I don't recognize. That could partially be because the birds have metal parts attached to their bodies, or replacing entire limbs. It could also be because these birds, even to my eyes, look very sick and weak. I soon notice a red sign that has the words, 'DODO MISERARIUM' printed in fancy letters hanging on the right wall.

' _These are dodos?_ ' I ask myself as I look at the birds again. ' _Rather odd sort of birds._ '

"Blasted Hare," Alice curses as she looks at the cages. "He's using the dodos as slave labor, and the Dormouse cooks the ones who are too weak to work." I blink in surprise at that last bit; those creatures _eat_ these birds, as well?

"We need to get to the Hare and remove him from power," Alice comments before she turns to me. "You see about our next path. There's a Snout I can see with my name on it."

Alice raises the Grinder with a determined smile on her face, which makes me smile back as I see her happy again. I turn to the path in front of me, and notice a cage without a dodo inside that moves up and down every few seconds. I jump onto that cage, and then onto another nearby cage, to plot our next move.

A hoarse squawk from below me makes me pause; I kneel and lower my head to the bars below me to see an angry dodo with both legs replaced by machinery looking back at me. My landing probably made it upset, even though I didn't channel any of the mists into my feet to provide extra jump. I mouth a, "Sorry," to the dodo just as I feel the cage shake slightly from another person landing on it. The dodo now squawks loudly, which sets off a few other squawks from other cages.

"These dodos don't like us," I state as I stand alongside Alice atop the cage. "We'd better move through here quickly, and ease their suffering."

"They're already suffering enough," Alice agrees as she points the Grinder at a nearby switch. She peppers up said switch, which causes a few empty cages to lower to our level with loud screeches of metal. The dodos get more upset by the noise and movement as we use the empty cages to reach a steam vent that brings us up to a solid ledge.

I smash a weakened wall near us, and Alice pulls on the lever that's inside. A new steam vent moves into position near us, and we use it to land on some occupied cages further up. I feel the dodo in the cage beneath us pace back and forth in what I assume to be panic as Alice peppers a switch just above where we were. Funny that I didn't see it when we were down there; that would have saved us a bit of travel.

The new switch's activation makes more empty cages move to our level, and also lets out more metal screeches. The dodo's squawks now turn wild as I notice a few flap their wings in panic at all the noise. We move across the cages to a new oval door, but a Liddel memory rests to our right. Alice moves over and touches it, and Alice's sister speaks an interesting fact.

" _Cover its cage and the canary goes to sleep, Alice,_ " she explains. " _Out like a snuffed candle. Sleeps the sleep of the 'just', like Mama and Papa. After 10:00, they're unconscious._ "

Alice chuckles as she hears this, but the fact that Lizzie seems to know about her parent's sleeping habits doesn't sit right with me. Then again, my sleep over the past few days in London hasn't been very pleasant.

The oval door opens for us after Alice touches the memory, and we move through an open door marked with the words 'ENGINE ROOM'. Incessant pounding reaches my ears as, once again, we enter an extremely-large chamber…

* * *

 **Alright, that'll be all for now. Again, those who have played the game should know what's coming next. But, it's alright if you don't know, and I hope you stay interested for what's to come.**

 **Please review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	12. The Nightmare Lives, The Domain Dies

**Hello again, readers! Here's the next chapter, and a big one at that!**

 **I apologize for the breaking of my consistent updating, but I wanted to make sure this chapter was good for you all to read. Also, I've been busy with an increase in outside work, so my postings from now on may be delayed. I do hope you all understand.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series belong to their original creators, as well as any beta content for these games. The author owns his OC, as well as any custom elements he includes in the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The 'Engine Room' is much darker than the Dormouse's chamber. There's one path that twists and turns around itself in various ways. Several dodos like the ones in the Miserarium run inside large wheels, but one wheel has the Hatter's legs running instead. There's a hare standing on two mechanical legs, managing several levers, inside a similar container to what the Dormouse stood in.

This hare wears a collared white shirt with a red bow tie underneath what my mind calls a 'tartan waistcoat'. A glove covers his left hand, while his right hand and upper elbow are replaced with a giant clock hand that connects to his shoulder by metal pipes. A large monocle rests on his right eye and enlarges his bugged-out look. His long ears are grafted with screws, and his front teeth gnash together harshly.

As I look at this creature, I see an image of a weaker, suffering hare like this one. The second version looks extremely beaten and battered, straps holding his chest tight and one leg completely gone. His lower lip is stretched down, the right eye stretched out. I blink, and the second version vanishes.

I must have seen these creatures before. I knew them when the Hatter still ruled the Domain. How did that happen?

"What mad scheme is this, March Hare?" Alice shouts. "Do you run these dodos in hamster wheels for sport, or as part of your work?"

The hare looks at us and sneers. His front teeth look disgusting, now.

"Yer dogged persistence will be rewarded with pain!" The Hare's voice carries a thick accent as he shouts this line out. "I told ya to cease and desist, but my warning goes unheeded! So, without regret, you're 'bout to be crushed like the sniveling bugs ye are!"

The Hare tugs one of his many levers, and the wheels around us spin faster. I see no possible way for us to get to him, but there should be _something_ we can use.

Several fists smash onto metal plates across the room; some smash to the side, others straight down. I don't want to get crushed underneath any of them. Luckily, there's a small space to the far right that's lit by a brighter bulb than the rest of the room. We head over there, and pass through two side-smashing fists onto a platform to the right.

There's yet another dodo in a hamster wheel here. The sight of it running without end, without rest, reminds me of the Houndsditch children. They're at the orphanage because they have no other place, or person, to turn to for help. They live in one place and do the same routines again and again, without change.

No more, I say!

I summon the Hammer to 'MM' and take a solid swing at the hamster wheel. My strike bounces off the hammer, and into me. I stumble around on misguided legs as the dodo inside gives a warbled scream. My legs reach an agreement when I fall flat on my butt, again.

"Silly dung beetle," the March Hare taunts at me like the Dormouse did. "Progress ain't with the Hatter, oh no. The Hatter's ways are doomed to fail!"

"Come on, Kyle," Alice shouts to me as I see she's walked up some nearby stairs. "I've found a Pressure Pad we can use."

I move up with wobbly legs as Alice places a Clockwork Bomb on the Pad. This causes a rotating gear, shaped like the one a few chambers back, to rise to our level. We use that gear to reach a small platform beneath a larger one. This platform has another of those worn-down robots in the corner, some boxes along the walls, and a lever. Alice focuses on the lever while I smash open the boxes for her to collect from.

"Haha! That's it," the March Hare calls out as the hamster wheels spin even faster. "I can feel it surging! Faster, my fine feathered friends! Don't stop now!"

Alice taps my shoulder to get my attention, and we jump back to the platform with the imprisoned dodo. The two fists we passed through are deactivated, but a fist between them is gone. We walk through the space, and jump over a gap. We pass right below the Hare's control center, and the rubbish chute.

"Don't go thinking ye can prance around," the Hare shouts as we run by beneath him. "I'm watching ye, foilers of The Plan!"

We don't respond as we enter another small space. Two platforms in front of us move up like steps. A fist smashes down on each one, but the pattern is easy enough to figure out. The same can be said for the two clapping pairs of metal hands beyond that, and we quickly jump onto another platform with a low ceiling.

A lever lies to our left, but it is blocked by grates. A switch hangs on the back wall as the largest collection of foes I've seen yet emerge to face us. Insidious Ruins, Bolterfiles, an Eyepot, and a Menacing Ruin all appear and move into what I assume to be battle positions. I shiver as I see the odds; we're in deep trouble.

"Distract the larger foes," Alice calls to me before the battle is joined. "I'll take care of the smaller ones first."

Since Alice has the fastest-firing ranged weapon among us, I do as she asks. However, the space is so small that teleporting around everything won't be as helpful. This becomes quickly prevalent after I teleport close to the Menace, only to teleport back when the Eyepot tries to skewer me.

I prioritize the Eyepot, since it has a weaker body. A good one-two combo stuns it, and then the Menace literally picks me up with its liquid fist. It throws me against a nearby wall, and I scrabble to my feet. I teleport back again and catch my breath. The two enemies fire their ranged attacks at me without any more respite. Burning Ruin mixes with scalding tea and soaks into my skin.

I run back in and try to channel the Hammer's power into one good swing to the Eyepot. The Menace gets in the way and absorbs the blow with its smaller arms. Then, the Eyepot scuttles around from the back and claws two deep gashes into my chest. My vision turns white at the edges; I might actually die here.

I teleport back as far as I can from the enemies and press a hand to my chest. All I get is blood on my gloves.

' _No,_ ' I think to myself. ' _Not again. This is like in the pipe maze; I didn't die there, so there's no chance I'll die now!_ '

My mists flow into me, and I feel stronger than ever...

Until a fireball slams into my face and reduces my vision to pinpoints against endless, all-consuming white. I have no air in my lungs, my body can't move, but I can hear everything just fine. The snorts of the Menace, the Eyepot's metallic cry, the high-pitched gurgles of the Insidious, and the hisses of the Bolterflies all fuse together. Alice's cries stand out as I hear claws dig into skin.

Then, a scream shatters the chaos. I feel a wave of emotions flow through me; terror, anguish, loss, heartbreak, _anger_. My vision clears a bit as I look to where the scream came from. Metal parts join chunks of Ruin in a figurative bloodbath. Alice is at the epicenter.

At least, it's someone who I _think_ is Alice.

This Alice has skin and clothes whiter than my mists. That clothing looks like what she wore in the Vale of Tears. Bright-red blood seeps from her arms, eyes, mouth, and a small hole in her chest. The Vorpal Blade she holds is covered in blood, the handle swathed in bandages as the metal glints menacingly. Her eyes are as black as in my nightmares.

I stare at this 'Nightmare Alice', caught and frozen before something right out of my dreams. She raises a hand as if she wants to lift me off the ground. I let out a choked gasp as my body rises on its own. The white in my eyes changes to black-and-red flashes and images too graphic to describe. My vision clears completely as I see some foes are still alive. But, they don't move, either.

" _Stay,_ " a cold female voice says in my mind as my body locks in place. " _Watch._ "

I have no choice but to obey. Nightmare Alice turns her gaze to the Eyepot, Menace, and few Insidious left. She teleports to one of the smaller creatures in a storm of blood-red butterflies, and slices it in half with one stroke. She carries her attack to a second Insidious, who falls just as fast.

Blood-red petals fall from the foes, and Nightmare Alice absorbs them without pause. The remaining Insidious don't stand a chance against her rapid slices. For the Eyepot, she literally pulls its 'eye' out of the socket with the Blade. The creature writhes before falling limp.

The Menace faces the fire of a transformed Pepper Grinder. The weapon's pig head is covered in bandages, its eyes now blood-red. The bullets glint red, the scent of pepper much stronger than normal. I'm too terrified to sneeze as the Menace loses two faces under a combination of pepper and blood-coated steel. Any sort of attack it makes doesn't put a scratch on Nightmare Alice's body. She just strikes harder.

Suddenly, everything returns to normal. There's no transition, no shift, nothing to let me know what's happened. All I see is that Alice's clothes, and weapons, are back to normal. I can also move my body again, but I just watch some more. Alice deflects the Menace's fireballs with her Umbrella before she moves in for the kill. The Menace quickly melts away after that.

* * *

Alice doesn't say a word as she peppers up the switch on the wall. I keep silent as I try to process the reason behind Nightmare Alice. The switch Alice activates makes a fist at the far end rise up and open a path to the blocked lever. Alice goes through a keyhole by the lever first while I look over our possible next path.

The March Hare tugs at his levers in the distance. I don't know if he turned around to watch us, or not. I see no possible path other than the one we've already taken, and I don't want to do any more backtracking. Nightmare Alice is what I focus on, especially how she managed to manipulate my body and talk in my head. She acted like that cleaver-wielding woman in my nightmares.

Was this the kind of danger Alice spoke of when she asked those questions back in Houndsditch?

I don't know how to react to Nightmare Alice's presence. I fear her power, but I also admire her power. I _want_ a power like her's. But, do I _need_ that power? It looks like it comes attached with a lot of pain and emotion.

I take out the small orange stone in my pocket and look it over, as if it'll give me an answer to my fearful desire. It doesn't.

A sudden _whoosh_ of air signals the Cheshire Cat's arrival. I look to my left, and he sits there with his eternal grin, his eyes bright against the Engine Room's darkness.

"I don't suppose you have any advice to give," I sarcastically ask. "Your last bit of guidance was helpful, but it was hard to figure out at first."

"Most things are," the Cat replies. "However, as I once told Alice, the uninformed must improve their deficit, or die. You need to learn how things work here, at least for the time being. This isn't dreary old London, anymore; we're _all_ at risk."

"I know that, Cheshire." I use the Cat's apparent first name to emphasize my point. He doesn't react, so I continue with, "I just don't think near-death experiences are a good way to learn things."

The Cat cracks a laugh at this, to which I clench my fists and resist the urge to shatter his teeth.

"If you can talk like _that_ to your superiors," he comments after he calms down, "then you're on the right path. Now, how about a little self-reliance, hmm?"

He then vanishes. His words roll in my brain and offer new questions. How strong do I need to be here? As long as I stick by Alice, probably not so much. Without her, though...

* * *

Alice steps out of the keyhole as I put my stone back in my pocket. She remains silent as she moves to the lever and tugs it over. An elevator moves down to our level at the far right end. I hear the March Hare laugh in the distance. The entire room rumbles suddenly as the Hare's laugh turns to a spluttering curse.

"Damn and blast," he exclaims while waving his clock hand around like crazy. "Don't ya dare stop! Keep running, ya flightless morons, or so help me, I'll… I'll…!"

I look back to Alice, and race over to the elevator when I see she's inside it. The machine moves slowly up two levels, during which time Alice doesn't look away from me. Is she judging me? The tension lodges in my throat. I have to ask her what that Nightmare side of her was, or I won't be able to forgive myself.

"It's called Hysteria."

Once again, Alice beats me to the punch! My question is shot before it ever leaves my lips. Another rumble shakes the elevator as she explains herself.

"When all odds are against me, I can draw on my darkest thoughts to keep me alive. These thoughts appear as _her_ ; Hysteria. I'm sorry you had to see that part of me, or that she was able to command you like a puppet."

I blush at how she said that last bit. I don't consider myself a puppet, but...

"I don't think any less of you for it," I quickly reply as the elevator starts to slow down. "If anything, I'm glad for it. I told you my nightmares in Houndsditch, remember? Now, you've shown me your fears. We're even."

"It's not that simple," Alice retorts, but the elevator doors open to a grated corridor before she can say any more. Five fists smash down in sequence, from farthest to closet. After a few repeats of this pattern, Alice and I teleport through the first three without getting crushed. A small space is here for us to breathe, and we then move under the last two in the same manner. We then jump down to an open space with a single Shrinking Violet. I instantly gesture for Alice to take it.

"I know you can regenerate," she replies without moving. "But, Hysteria can heal our wounds by absorbing the life force of defeated foes. I don't think I need it."

"These things also give teeth," I remind her. "You do need those, at least."

Alice accepts this. She emerges from the Violet less than a second later to pick up the few teeth that the flower leaves behind. She doesn't look any different from before. Guess what she said was true, after all.

We make swift progress underneath two stuck fists, ride up the top end of a fist as it continues to smash down onto a lower floor, and then leap across a path we walked down a short while ago. Another imprisoned dodo runs at breakneck speed here. Alice quickly pulls a nearby lever as I feel the place shake again.

I look to the March Hare's control center as he shouts a curse. The rabbit fiddles with every possible button and lever he can, but nothing slows the dodos down. I fear the wheels will break apart as the fists now smash out of sync.

"Ach, no, stop!" the Hare screams above the clanging. "That's enough! Gah, stop yar running, ya blithering idiots!"

The hare shakes his fist at what I assume are the nearby Hatter's legs as the fists pound mercilessly. The shaking grows tremendous... and then stops as several pipes break apart and release large bursts of steam. The wheels quickly stop moving. Dodo calls mix with the loud _hiss_ of gas.

"Ya think this'll stop us?" the Hare screeches at us as he whirls around to face us. "A temporary setback. The merest trifle! I'll be leaving now, ya can't catch me, don't even try!" A small platform where the Hare stands starts to rise as he finishes this taunt.

"We won't stop until we save this Domain from your 'progress'," I shout back at him. The Hare doesn't respond, already gone from view. At least I gave him a piece of my mind before he left.

I follow Alice through a narrow path across deactivated fists, open metal hands, and a few gaps, to reach the control center. Alice pulls one large lever among the many here, and the rubbish chute opens up. The Hatter's legs climb through the outer rings of the wheel and fall inside, with the two of us right behind it. This time, I keep my descent under control to avoid another painful landing.

* * *

The two of us land safely back in the Hatter's chamber. Additional arms emerge among the Hatters machines and pick up the legs. The Hatter focuses his gaze on the arms as they each click onto his shoulders. He gives the fingers a twitch and moves each arm to make sure they work right. He does the same with his legs as they click into the bottom of his torso. Finally, the hands draw a large hat that seems about my height by itself with black-and-white checkered squares, and place it on the Hatter's head. They even give a pat for good measure.

"We've finished your work and you're complete, Hatter," Alice says as the assemblage finishes. "Now, what about this damnable train?"

The Hatter drops to the chamber floor, and shakes it with his landing. He stands up, a giant to us humans.

"I feel like a new man, or whatever I am!" The Hatter waves his arms around to enunciate his words, pleased as he looks to be reassembled. "I feel like an unsprung spring, like an uncorroded gear, like an untarnished bit of metal that sticks in your eye!"

"Answer us, Hatter," Alice demands. "We're both suffering. Changes here are the cause, or they're a reflection, or the effect."

The hands deposit a long black staff with a silver teapot on the end into the Hatter's hands as Alice then asks, "What's going on? What are the new rules?"

"The law is just, just a whisper away," the Hatter muses as he looks over his staff. "A way to wonder, wonder who. Who knows to measure rules? With a ruler! Cruel rules…"

I frown as he trails off into a demented laugh. He's not listening to us.

"Idiot!" Alice spits this word out, most likely annoyed at the Hatter's antics. "We should have left you in bits. Come, the least you can do is help us discover what's going on!"

"Tea for everyone when I recover my Domain," the Hatter shouts with his arms spread wide. "A party to all, and to all a happy day!"

Before I can blink, the Hatter grabs us both in one of his giant hands and squeezes us tightly. I hear Alice give an, "Eeep!" as her body presses tightly against mine. The Hatter then leaps up with tremendous strength. He smashes right through the clock face above us with a good punch.

We land on the now-ruined clock face, the Domain's sky more putrid than before. The Hatter quickly moves us to his back; Alice grabs his shoulder while I grip part of a gear in his back. I hold on for dear life as the Hatter leaps between floating gears on a route towards 'Assemblage and Destruction'. A rumble goes through me each time he lands, which is quite often.

* * *

Eventually, the Hatter reaches a cluster of gears and platforms near an entrance to our destination. He picks us off and leaps away. I shout to him, but he doesn't respond as he leaps out of sight.

"He's probably looking for another way in," Alice explains as she draws the Pepper Grinder. "Let's just get to work. You move to the entrance while I shoot this Snout."

A flying Snout is near the checkered entrance platform, and it leaves another basket on the platform after it sneezes. I leap over to it, and try to land on the platform rather than the weaker gears.

I turn to Alice, but she's found another memory on a single gear connected via pipes to the platform. It turns out to be a Liddel memory as I hear Lizzie exclaim, " _Papa, your enthusiasm for photography makes the library smell like rotten fruit. And I'm certain those solutions are toxic!_ "

I shake my head with smile before I smash the Duchess's basket open. Four gold teeth fall out, a treasure trove for Alice. She comes over a few moments later absorb it.

We then move into the main platform, but the voices of the Dormouse and the March Hare each blare the same message after each other; " _Clear the platform! Cover your ears! Hold your nose! Abandon false hope! Forget the past! The damage is done! Let the madness begin! Resume the folly! All aboard!_ "

' _Those two seem to be almost done with their plan,_ ' I think as we enter through another oval door. ' _But, is this train their construction, or their weapon?_ '

I drop the thought as I see the next area has a few narrow walkways between platforms of metal sheets welded together. Red light shines along the walls and reflects ominously on the coat of the Mad Hatter. So, this is where he came into.

"These clockworks will be our madacam," he says. "Our road into Assemblage!" He then points to an arched metal door that's blocked with metal planks, and shouts, "Courage, Alice and Kyle! I'll get this door open!"

I feel a bit confused that the Hatter calls me by my name, but I shift focus as several Insidious Ruin and a Menacing Ruin rise to meet us. I quickly teleport over to the larger foe and swing the Hammer into its three faces. This plan is two-fold; I want to keep it focused on me, and I also want to show my 'self-reliance'.

Two swings force it back, but it forces me back in turn with a ground-pound. Once we're at a distance, I switch the Hammer to 'RM' and aim a shot. It reaches to its back for a fireball. We fire, and get hit, at the same time.

One of the Menace's masks falls off as the burning tar soaks into my skin. The sensation joins the burns already over my body, which I try hard to ignore. I switch the Hammer to 'MM', and teleport in for another few swings. The Menace blocks as best it can, and then lets out a burst of fire from its back. It's about to charge.

I teleport to the side as it barrels forward. I force the Hammer to 'RM', and fire a shot just when it turns around to face me. Another face falls off, but several darts pierce my chest before I can fire again. The Menace draws more fireballs from its back, and I teleport rapidly as they are thrown at me. Each one fails to hit me.

I catch a quick breath as the creature spits a piece of its body onto the ground. I hear the Pepper Grinder's fire, and the Mad Hatter's mumbling. I look at the remaining mask on the Menace, its frozen expression like the doll mask in my nightmares.

I'm not so afraid of those dreams, now.

I teleport forward just as the Menace draws its enlarged fist back. I land two blows, and then shove the Hammer's business end into my foe's body. It gurgles in confusion before I flick the Hammer's switch. I hear a muffled _boom_ as the Hammer's explosive power goes off inside the Menace's guts. Its upper body bulges, bubbles, and then bursts apart.

Globs of Ruin splatter all over me as I stumble back from the blast. The Hammer's front steams when I pull it out, and I dismiss it with a sigh. It's done its work.

I turn to where I last saw Alice. All the Insidious are dead, and Alice smiles at me. That makes me happy. I then turn to the Hatter as I see the planks that blocked the door slide to the sides. The door opens a second later.

"I can't be cabobbled forever," the Hatter shouts. "We're in! Follow me!"

He leaps over to the door and runs inside, leaving us to trail behind. Along the way, Alice informs me of a final memory of her mother she was able to collect while I was fighting the Menace. Apparently, her mother had a specific taste in how books were judged back then.

I wonder what else has changed from her childhood? At least she had one to begin with...

* * *

We enter the next room just as it shakes wildly. Whatever the March Hare did must have spread beyond his control.

"This feels like an earthquake," Alice states as the Hatter moves to a set of wedged gears. "What's happening?"

"Do I look like I know?" the giant shoots back with an annoyed look. "Your judgement must be severely impaired. Kyle probably knows more than you do."

Alice turns to me, and I just shrug my shoulders. This causes the last bits of Ruin on my body to run off onto the floor. Thank goodness this stuff doesn't stick for very long.

We find a few boxes and small platforms we can use as steps to reach a second floor amid this area's scrap metal. The lights here give a dim glow, and we move up with practiced ease. Alice soon peppers up a switch that causes a gear inside a wall to rotate around, a small hole on the gear's back end. We shrink down to cross through here.

There's nothing for us when we get through, but a weak section in the floor is an easy thing for me to smash. We fall down to a mid-level space, where I smash open another surface. Once we reach the bottom, I see we're right across from the Hatter. He gives us a 'come here' gesture. I then notice we are in a tight space of enclosed metal that we couldn't reach from where we began.

It seems a bit stupid to me that this spot only has one access point, but I didn't design the Domain. Heck, it's apparent designer is having trouble controlling it!

Alice pulls a nearby lever as I look things over, and two doors open at once; one for us, one for the Hatter. We both take our appropriate doors and wind up next to each other without anything separating us.

We step into a chamber that I swear all of London could fit inside. A distant ceiling shows some kind of red fabric that blocks out the sky. The walls are full of machines, contraptions, and metal bits that have no apparent use. Gears float in the red air on their own patterns, a mimicry of the Vale of Tears. The ground shakes wildly as I hear a whistle shriek from close by.

I stare in shock as a massive black train made up of several cathedrals put together pulls out of the Domain on a track of black rails and even blacker stone. The train's design looks right out of Hell. The red-tinted windows on its cars glow like fire, it belches fire from its smokestack, and its body has many curves, spikes, and turrets. I watch the train travel through some kind of portal to the far right, and vanishes from our sight.

"We've found the source of the shaking," Alice notes as she turns toward the ceiling. "But, are those two quaking? What are they up to?"

I look up with her, but don't see anything. What's she talking about?

"You'll never stop us, silly Hatter, Alice, and friend," the Dormouse shouts at us from somewhere I can't see. "It's left! You're too late! Ahaha!"

"The insolence, the arrogance, the inexorable table manners," the Hatter rapidly shouts at his former companions. "They are destroyers of Wonderland! Defilers, diluters, derangers, delightful…"

The Hatter breaks off into a fit of coughs and sputters, like he's too worked up to speak properly.

"Did they actually create that train to destroy Wonderland?" I turn to Alice as she asks this while the Hatter recovers, a deep frown on her face. I frown as well; if that train was their plan, then they've succeeded. Why are they still here?

"What does that matter?" the Hatter answers. "They deserve to die!"

"What for?" I ask the towering madman. "Taking your precious Domain away from you? What about your helping us?"

"Quiet, you, you… you-you," the Hatter replies to me with a sour glare. "You're just like those blasted Children; muttering and muttering with no sense! Even the mad have sense in their words!"

The next moment, a giant hook picks the Hatter up by the gears on his back. He screams as the device hoists him away.

"Put me down," he shouts. "Why, I ought to—"

"Enough talk!" This comes from the Dormouse as the giant arm carries the Hatter out of our sight. "Battle time, children!"

* * *

I stand my ground as the chamber shakes yet again. This time, a massive Automaton rises up before us via two sets of chains. The Dormouse and March Hare stand inside its chest, the framework made of dark brown metal pieces and large clockwork bits. Its left arm is a larger fist from the Engine Room, and its right arm is a huge drill that''s several times larger than me.

"Abandon false hope," the Dormouse screams as the chains stop moving. "Forget the past! The damage is done!"

"Let the madness begin," the March Hare continues as the Automaton spits out black smoke and starts to move. "Resume the folly!"

I switch the Hammer to 'RM', and aim at the robot's chest. Maybe I can wipe out the controllers before they ever get the chance to strike. I see the Dormouse tug a lever on her side, and the left arm starts to rise up. I keep my aim on target, but don't fire. I've only got one shot, and I don't want to miss.

Suddenly, a massive teapot crashes on the robot's head. A second later, the chains holding its arms in place snap, and those arms fall off the main body. The Hatter lands in front of us, unharmed by the hook.

The Dormouse and March Hare cry out various exclamations as the Automaton overloads, and then explodes. Their bodies fly over our heads and onto the same platform, battered and broken in several places.

Several _rumbles_ happen in quick sequence. The entire 'Assemblage and Destruction' chamber starts to break down. The floating gears fall and collide with metal beams and bits of fabric. The Hatter, Alice and I race over to the mangled corpses of the Dormouse and March Hare.

"No, no," the Hatter moans as he looks around him and falls to his knees. "My precious Domain! And the guests! All I really wanted was another tea party!"

The giant cradles the March Hare's head, the latter's monocle shattered completely. The Dormouse's wheel-legs are broken to bits, too.

"Please, Hatter," Alice demands amidst the chaos. "You promised! Where is that train going? What's its purpose? Tell me, now!"

"There's no time for… whatever it is you want to talk about," he responds with a wild gleam in his eyes. "It's time for tea! Talk trains with Turtle, he ran the Looking Glass Line!"

Is he having a delusion, or something? This isn't the time for that!

"Mmmhmm, come on you lot!" The Hatter taps the Dormouse's stomach as her blood and internal organs spill onto the metal. "We can still be friends. I've got a find Darjeeling! Drink, drink!"

I stare at this man as he completely ignore a promise he made. My blood boils. This giant, this _madman_ , needs to be punished!

I prop the Hammer up and aim it at his big, green head. A loud explosion matches the shattering of any trust I had for this man who we worked so hard and so long for.

"Tell us what's going on, you big, green, bastard," I shout at the Hatter, "or I fucking swear I will blow your lying head into the goddamn abyss!"

"Kyle!" Alice forcefully pushes the Hammer down before she turns to the man. "My memories are shattered. I'm trying to collect the pieces, and I now believe the train impedes me. You must help me! You promised!"

"Ask the one who 'helps them help themselves'," the Hatter commands, which is no help to us at all.

I aim the Hammer back at his face and charge up a shot, only to fall back on my ass as a giant metal beam crushes the Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare all at once. A loud _splash_ reaches my ears as I realize what just happened. Boiling tea rapidly rises up, an unrelenting ocean of scalding liquid.

"Very pithy," Alice comments out loud as the tea reaches our feet. "He deserved to die. And now we're about to drown in tea, and ignorance!"

I grab Alice's hand as the tea reaches up to our waists, and moan in pain as it quickly covers my chest and back.

"Breathe deep, Kyle!" Alice shouts to me just before the tea envelops us. I do so, and we float together in murky green liquid. A second later, the tea moves quickly in several directions at once. I hold onto Alice's hands as my lungs ache for fresh air.

Despite my strength, I'm only human. The current pulls me away from Alice and, once again, into a black embrace...

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! The Hatter's Domain has fallen, which means no more tea parties in Wonderland. Quite sad, really, but new developments will come up with the next chapter. Again, I'm not sure when it'll be posted, since my workload has jumped up quite a bit from before.**

 **Please review, comment, and suggest as you wish. Feedback is appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	13. Mischief of Mermaids and Mangled Men

**Hello again, readers! Here is the next chapter for you all, back on schedule!**

 **Yeah, 'on schedule'. I've actually had a good chunk of time to get the plans for this story refined, so I should be able to post chapters on the same schedule as before for a while yet. Wish me luck!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA, including unused beta content. The author owns any custom elements he chooses to introduce in the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

 _Water. I'm in water. I need to breathe. I need air. Where's Alice? I don't feel her hands. Is someone screaming? I hear a voice, not mine. What's this taste in my mouth? It's horrid._

 _Wait a minute. I'm in water. That's not right. I was in tea a second ago. Something's changed. My chest hurts. My hands are cold. Cold? Wasn't the tea hot?_

 _Open your eyes, Kyle. Get up. MOVE!_

Thunder rumbles as all my senses return at once. I flounder and struggle as the water around me, a whole ocean's worth, tries to pull me down. I cry for help, and salty water fills my throat and stomach. My hands reach for something to grab that isn't water.

Something tangles around my legs, holds them tight, keeps me from moving. The water's cold easily soaks through my clothes. Each move I make takes a lot of effort. My strength fades, and I sink down into the sea. My vision turns brown against the sea's black, and I'm too weak to wonder why.

Something extends from the brown thing, and roughly grabs my arms. The brown color stays in place as the rough thing pulls me up with amazing strength. The tangle around my legs rises with it. The water pulls back, tries to hold me down, but the rough thing is stronger. When I rise above the surface, more water drums onto my skin as a cold wind chills me to the bone.

The brown thing pulls me up to a dim yellow light, and then drops me onto its hard, wet body. Water is in my ears, but I still hear the _thumps_ of something walking to my front. A large hand grabs my hair and pulls me up by my scalp. A sunken face with gray eyes looks at me. Rough hands tilts my head to the side, and violently shakes my head around. The water in my body rumbles and shifts just as violently.

"Ya bloody drownie," the face shouts at me against the wind's howl. "What've ya got to say for messing up my catch of the day?!"

I moan back, and then retch as the water in my chest forces itself up my throat and out my mouth. The man drops me with a loud, "Cock and fuckery!" as I brace my body on all fours and vomit what remains inside my stomach. A sharp kick to my side makes me heave several times, but nothing else comes out. I groan as I fall into the slop I just got out of my system.

"Get out of me fuckin' net, ya drownie," the man shouts at me. "Yer legs tangled up the best catch I've seen all week! Bloody storms bring out the worst people."

The man stomps out of my vision, and I look up at the dark sky. Lightning flashes across the clouds. Rainwater patters on my body. The world around me bobs back and forth with wild tilts. I slowly look to my legs, and see strands of black rope wrapped around them. The strands have a pattern of small squares, and my legs and feet are hopelessly tangled inside.

I slowly rise to a sitting position as my throat burns. My hands move clumsily, the rope too wet to grip. I look to the side of the brown surface, and see the turbulent ocean. The surface I lie on smells odd, and looks familiar.

' _Wood,_ ' I realize after a few moment's thought. ' _This is wood I'm sitting on, on top of the water. Is this some kind of ship?_ '

I blink at the word 'ship'; when did I last see one of those? I don't know if London has a harbor, and there weren't any ships in the Vale of Tears, or the Hatter's Domain. So, why do I know what this vehicle is?

"Ya out of there yet?" The man's voice comes from nearby as he steps back into view. When he sees I'm not, he shakes his head and mutters several words under his breath.

"Yer damn lucky its getting too dangerous to continue me catch," he continues as he starts to carefully untangle the rope from my legs. "I knew it'd be stormy today for fishing, but this weather is bloody terrible."He stands with his legs spread wide against the ship's rocking, his fingers rough and scarred in several places.

I start putting the pieces together as he works. I must have gotten tangled in this man's fishing net, and he had to pull me out of the water and onto his boat to get me loose. The storm around us must be pretty bad for him to stop fishing for the day. I don't recall seeing any fish in the waters around me, but I _was_ more afraid of drowning than helping someone get extra food.

"There," the man grunts. "Yer free. Now, move aside so I can get to the docks with no more trouble."

I wiggle my legs, now free of the evil black rope, and slowly scoot to the closest side of the ship I can. I prop myself against a corner, and turn my mind away from what's happening to me. The pounding rain, my runny nose, the ship's bobbing, my stomach's growling, and my aching muscles all fade to small dots. I just breathe, and think of other things.

Alice is one of those things. I hope she's doing better than I am.

* * *

Cold water splashes on me. I snort and spasm as I snap my eyes open. The boat's rocking has stopped, the rain now a light drizzle. My rescuer stands over me with a battered bucket in hand.

"That got ye up," he says with a click of his tongue. "I wouldn't have rescued ye again if ye'd fallen off the deck, ye know." I silently stare back, my throat too parched for me to make any sound other than heavy breaths.

"Now," the man continues as he extends a hand to me. "My fee, please."

I just stare at his rough, scarred fingers. The man beckons to me, so I extend my hand toward his. He slaps that away, and then grabs me by the shoulders. With a loud grunt, he slams me against the wooden wall.

"I want a fee, ye cock," he shouts at me. "A payment, a donation to me rescuing ye! What I did was a _service_ ; I could have just left ye tangled in me net and sold yer corpse to some crazed doctor at Rutledge Asylum. I'm going to get something from ye, alive or dead!"

I let loose a growl, but I can't do anything against him. He moves his hands all across my body, not being soft in any way. It's then I see I have my London clothes on. This confirms the earlier thought that I am back in London, in reality. Compared to Wonderland, this seems worse off.

The man shoves me to the wooden deck and digs into my back pockets. His hands push against my butt and penis without mercy. I scrunch up with a whimper, and he just slaps me in the face with a loud, "Shut up and take it, ye cunt!" I don't resist after that.

The man suddenly withdraws his hand from a back pocket of my pants with a cry of, "Saints be praised! What's this?" I look back to see a small, round, orange stone in his hands. A bolt races through my heart; that's the stone the clockwork creature gave me in the Domain. How did _that_ get here?

"This'll be worth me catch, and even more," the man exclaims as he squints his eyes to look at the stone better. "Whoever chose to toss ye into the sea certainly didn't have the time to search ye."

"G… give that back," I hoarsely demand as I press my hands against the deck to push myself up. "That's… mine! I need it!"

"It's mine now, brat," the man says with an oily sneer as I imagine his eyes calculating the value of the stone. "It's me _payment_ from ye, for keeping yer sorry skin alive for another day. Now, piss off!"

I can only stare in anguish as the man walks off. He pockets the stone in his water-stained pants; a void I can't reach. I push myself up, and jump the short distance between the wooden deck and the wooden docks. The world still rocks around me, like I'm still on the ship. I stumble underneath a small roof, next to piles of crates, and slump down to the ground. This isn't Wonderland, anymore.

Why am I here? This is worse than Wonderland. Back there, I had some semblance of power. I was someone special. I had a purpose. I could go somewhere new, and do something important. It was dangerous, but I had the strength to face that danger. Here, I'm just an orphan with no special skills, and a bunch of problems.

No noe cares about me. I could close my eyes, and never wake up again.

' _Don't do that_ _,_ ' a small part of me protests. 'T _ou've met people that care about you._ '

Those people have probably forgotten about me. They won't recall me if I talk to them.

' _What makes you so sure about that? You haven't tried it, yet. Get up, and find someone to talk to! You won't know until you try!_ '

I look at my hands, wrinkled from the water and cold. I look around me, the crates silent to any words I would speak. The rain outside drums on the stone without end. I stand up and, slowly, carefully, step out into the rain.

I take my steps one at a time. I ignore the ships to my left, and the dimly-lit piles of crates to my right. Burly men meander past me, many of them with large nets or crates full of gasping, flopping fish. None of them stop to speak to me. They probably want good wages for their catches.

I move past the ships, and come to a row of houses and shops. A few muscular men walk past me, chatting among themselves. Their combined body odor makes me cover my mouth, and turn away. One of the men says the words, "Mangled Mermaid", which gets my attention. What _is_ a mermaid, anyway?

I move back to the water. Two men take drinks from what I assume to be beer bottles. I can't read the bottle's names. but the men look happy just drinking and slurring out words.

Past the drunkards are a small gang of kids in shabby clothes crowded around some kind of poster. I move over without crowding around them. The poster shows two men in some kind of advertisement, one smaller than the other. The smaller man has red hair, and a fancy black mustache. He wears an equally-fancy black coat, pants, and top hat with a cane. He gathers the attention of a surrounding audience to the larger man, who stands in a pool of water. This second man wears a blue-and-green shirt and cap. His belly bulges out of his shirt as he messily devours into a large fish. The man's teeth look more like tusks, his face shaped like some monster.

" _Bruno Carpenter's Carnival of Oddities,_ " the poster displays in shiny lettering. " _Featuring the Insatiable WALRUS MAN!_ ' That's... oddly fitting.

"Ya going to see this thing?" I look at the children before me as they speak among themselves, one boy asking this question to another.

"Not alone, I'm not," the questioned boy responds. He turns to a third boy and says, "Hey, ya'll come with me, right?"

"That thing'll eat me like a fish! Look at the size of it's teeth! It could probably eat us _all_ up, and still have room for fish after!"

The children then start to argue on who is brave enough to go see this 'Walrus Man'. I leave when that argument turns to shoving and kicking. I don't want any more wounds on me.

* * *

I turn into a back alley as the rain hammers down on me. A few steps in, I crash into someone coming out. We both stumble back, and I sputter out an apology. I then notice this person; an elderly woman with familiar orange eyes.

"D… Dr. Fixxler!" I sputter this out as the doctor picks up something she dropped from within her arms. She looks up at me as a smile crinkles along her face.

"Well, my child, it's good to see you again." Her voice is just as I remember it from her shop. "But, it looks like you haven't had the best of days down at the docks."

I look down at my soaked clothes and can only nod in embarrassment. Her gray dress looks pleasant in comparison.

"Come over here, out of the rain," Dr. Fixxler says with a gesture to the rest of the alleyway. "Has my prescription been treating you well?"

"It's been working well, Doctor," I answer as I slink beside her and turn to face her from within the alley. "I haven't had as many nightmares as before. However," I pause as I try to phrase my next words correctly. "the dreams I've had were quite... realistic."

"Some people prefer their dreams to reality," Dr. Fixxler replies. She still has the smile, but I swear her eyes turn darker. Then again, that could just be the darkness of the alleyway. I don't know what to say next, so I stare at the wall next to Dr. Fixxler with an akward silence.

"Well," Dr. Fixxler finally says. "I'm glad to hear my medicine is helping you. The specifics of your amnesia certainly are unusual, but I _am_ known for giving uncommon cure for uncommon conditions." I smirk as she quotes the slogan at her shop from memory.

"So, then," she continues, "do you have payment for my medicine with you?"

My smile shatters as Dr. Fixxler looks at me expectantly, waiting for an answer. I flash back to the fisherman, how he handled me to find any form of payment for 'rescuing' me. I don't want Dr. Fixxler to treat me the same way, or worse.

I look for a way to escape. I reach for my pocket, and then remember the only thing I had was taken away. I've got nothing to give her, but I don't want to submit to that realization.

"You don't have it." Dr. Fixxler's statement rips my thoughts to shreds. All I can do is shake my head in silent terror. Tears form in my eyes as I picture her ripping my clothes off to make sure I don't have anything. She could chop me to bits, and use my organs for some crazed potion. My bones could be parts of furniture. My teeth could be jewels.

"Jewel," I blurt out at that last thought. "I had a jewel with me, at the docks! An orange one, round, smooth, reflective! But he… it was…" I don't finish the sentence as the tears now flow down my cheeks. I fall to the stone beneath us in defeat.

"Don't hurt me, Doctor," I sob to the woman in front of me. "Please! I found a jewel, but it was taken by a fisherman when he saved me from drowning in the sea when I got separated from Alice. It was the only valuable thing I had! Please, give me more time! I'll find you something better!"

Dr. Fixxler remains silent as I stare at her, my green orbs against her intimidating orange. Her mouth is tight, focused, expressionless. I probably look like I'm on my last legs. But, I have no good way out of this. Dr. Fixxler probably knows that.

She asks a question: "Is this 'Alice' you refer to named Alice Liddel, by any chance?" I quickly nod. She raises her eyebrows, and smiles.

"Perhaps I wasn't very clear before," she explains. "I never said that material goods were the only method of payment. Alice Liddel figured that out when she first visited me." My jaw drops at this revelation.

" _Alice_ visited you?! Why didn't you tell me? She works at Houndsditch, under Dr. Bumby, like I do!" I flinch as I realize I almost shouted those words at an older lady, but she doesn't seem to mind my tone.

"Bumby's report didn't mention you knew Alice Liddel, specifically," she states. "You must have become acquainted with her after you came to me, because I remember the Liddel family when they all were alive. I wonder what you two were doing to be drowning in the ocean?"

She looks at me like she wants me to tell her the reason, but I realize I still don't know where Alice is. She might be in trouble, and I need her to help me regain my memories!

"I'm sorry, Doctor," I quickly say as I stand to my feet with fresh energy. "I need to find Alice. I'm sure she's somewhere on the docks, and I need to make sure she's alright."

The old doctor glances at my quick movement, and her eyes sparkle with mischief. For a second, they glint like the Cheshire Cat's.

"I won't get in the way of youthful fortune-seekers like you," she says as she steps aside. "We can discuss your payment another time. If you meet with Alice again, she might help you with that. Good luck."

I want to ask how many times Dr. Fixxler and Alice have met, but stop myself. With a quick bow as thanks, I race back onto the open docks. I start to run back down the same path I came. I need to find some clue to where Alice may have gone. When I get back to the docks, there are less fishermen unloading things than before.

Large blocks of cold ice are stacked like crates on top of one another, a thin layer of white fog on the ground. I pause at this sight; how can ice be cut like that? Also, how does ice make fog?

I dismiss that thought, and slip behind a group of fishermen. I take slow breaths to block out the men's pungent odor. They talk about the weather, whores, and beer. The name "Mangled Mermaid" pops up again; that could be a good spot to stary. I keep several paces behind the men as they walk away from the docks. At the very least, I'll find out what a mermaid actually—

 _Shit_! I duck down behind a nearby barrel as Jack Splatter, of all people, pops out of an alleyway. He wears almost-identical clothing to when I last saw him, his face stuck in a snarl. Whatever he's angry about, I want no part of it. He walks just behind the group of men, and they all go down a nearby back space. I suck up my fear, and follow them. They go to a large house a few blocks over.

* * *

The men pass by the front doors of a white-walled building called, "The Mangled Mermaid". I look to a sculpture next to a sign showing that name, and flinch at a wooden lady above the words. The lady is old, with long, gray hair, a grin far too wide for her face, heaving naked breasts, and a fish tail instead of legs. The necklaces around her neck don't improve her look, but this seems to be what a 'mermaid' is. Can't say I _like_ it.

I stick to the edges of the Mermaid as piano music filters through the windows and large front door. Splatter talks to two men in front of the door. I go past them, and take a left into a side-alley. There's a few barrels to one side, and I slip behind them just as Splatter walks down the alley.

A window opens up on the second floor. A woman in a pink dress looks out, and frowns at Splatter the moment she sees him. Her dress shows off her huge breasts, as well as the black lace gloves she wears on her hands. I can barely see an anchor drawn on her left breast, a blue stone tied around her neck, and a peacock feather in the bun of her hair. She looks pretty nice.

"Where's my money, you fucking spank-bucket?!" This comes from the woman, directed towards Jack. She sounds very much like the Nan Sharpe from Alice's memories.

"Get those fat-arsed whores out on the street," Splatter threatens back, "or I'll come up and brain ya!"

"Shove off, you cocker-snipe," the woman shoots at Jack. "You'll never get past Long Tim!" I don't know who this 'Long Tim' is, but Splatter seems to know this woman from somewhere.

"I'll get what you and your floozies owe me, Miss Ladybird," Splatter announces with a wagging finger. "See if I don't!"

"Maybe you haven't noticed I'm not pissin' me drawers at the prospect!" The woman's insult makes me cringe, but I don't stick around as Splatter spurts out some other insult. I walk around to the backside of the Mermaid before Splatter gets there. Another muscled man, possibly 'Long Tim', stands guard at the door. Another row of boats are nearby. These boats are massive, but they also look rotten.

I move towards another pile of crates, and almost step on a small octopus that wriggles like it's on the last of its eight legs. After a moment, I try to pick up the creature and toss it back into the sea. I grab it by its oily head, the surface slimy and slippery. Luckily, the sea is only a small toss away, but I don't see a splash amidst the black waters.

A strange sound makes me turn around, and I become a witness to a grisly sight. Jack Splatter stands in front of a muscled man—maybe the alleged 'Long Tim'—as the man falls to the ground. Splatter enters through the doors, and I look over what's happened. The man's neck is red-and-purple, his eyes bulging out. Splatter must have done this. Is he going to talk to that woman next? Will he hurt her, as well?

' _Damn it! Why do I have to face so much danger to get what I want?! Fuck what the Cat said about self-reliance, I'm risking life and limb here!_ '

* * *

I walk through the Mermaid's open back door, pass through a corridor with some simple leaf designs that turns a few times, and step into a smoky, dimly-lit, crowded bar. The piano music from earlier tinkles a tune that doesn't affect me in any way.

People sit on stools at a fancy counter, or around tables and chat among themselves while sipping, or downright, chugging, bottles that the lone bartender dishes out. The two men from the front door are at the counter, arguing among themselves about some prior arrangement that one of them wants to back out of.

A group of burly men stand at a far corner around a thin man, slurring insults him. Stairs to an upper floor are next to the slurring mob. I can't recognize Splatter out of the crowd, which sets me on edge. He could find me pretty easily, now, and be able to escape before I ever see him.

I step to a darker area on the right to hide from Splatter. Someone instantly grabs me by the shoulders. Spicy perfume fills my nose as I feel two round, pointed objects press into my back. My cheeks instantly grow hot; these objects are probably a woman's breasts. The last time I was this close to a woman's assets was with Alice, back at Houndsditch.

The hands pull me next to a closed curtain, and press me face-first against the wall. Someone sniffs my neck, and I shudder as someone licks thier lips.

"Mmm," a sultry female voice whispers, "You're a young 'un! That's a sight for sore eyes like mine. The Mermaid certainly gets new fishermen from the docks that come to unload their catches. But _you_ …"

The hands flip me around without any noise, and I see the color red made into alluring female flesh. The shadows don't hide the red in this woman's skimpy dress or gloves. They show off her impressive bust, like the woman outside. They also don't hide the red of her lips, nails, and flowing hair tied up in a bun. Her eyes are spheres of fire that burn in the darkness.

"… _You_ , young 'un, are _special_." The woman enunciates the last word with a hiss that sends shivers down my spine. I open my mouth to protest, but the woman smushes her lips against mine before I say a word. My cheeks burn even hotter as I realize she's forcing herself on me. She must be one of the 'whores' those fishermen, and Splatter, spoke about earlier.

I shut my eyes as I feel her tongue press against mine, but I open them again when I taste a bitter liquid on her tongue. I instantly blame the taste to alcohol, even though I've never had the stuff. I press against the woman's grip, but she holds me like iron. She releases her mouth from mine with a wild gleam in her eyes.

"I've had nothing to satisfy me but fishermen for weeks," the woman excitedly whispers as her hands reach under my still-wet shirt. "They're too dumb for anything fancy, anything new. You're different enough to be fun!"

I gasp as the woman sharply pinches my bare skin, trying my best not to look her in the eye. I want to break away from her, but I don't want to cause a scene. If Splatter sees me, he'll probably remember who I am. He also looks like many of the thinner men here; he could have already escaped. This damn woman is in my way, feeling me up like I'm some doll, and I don't know how to stop her without making more problems!

"I don't have—" I gasp again as the woman pinches my stomach and sends tingles up my chest. "I don't have time for this. I need to find someone."

"Mmm, that can wait a bit," the woman argues as she moves her hands down to my waist. "I want something _young_ and _full_ for a few hours. I'll even do it for free!" I grit my teeth as my legs start to shake on their own. The woman's hands get very close to my genitals, her breath heavy as she touches me all over.

Fuck the consequences, this woman is _crazy_!

"I need to _go_!" I hiss through gritted teeth as I shove the woman back. She stumbles, but quickly rights herself with wide eyes. I bore my gaze into her, repeating in my head for her not to follow. I turn away after a few long seconds, and step back out into the room's light. I beeline for the stairs.

"Hey, boys," a familiar male voice shouts from a table I walk past. "It's the bloody drownie! Find yer land legs yet?" A chorus of laughter follows.

I lock eyes with the fisherman who 'saved' me, and then stole from me. A large glass bottle sits in front of him, filled with a clear liquid. A few bearded men with sweat-stained clothes sit around him. They give smiles that would better fit Insidious Ruin.

"I want to thank ya for paying me so swiftly," my 'savior' dramatically states. "That little gem was worth two day's fishing! So, because I'm really a kind old soul, I'll buy ye a drink! Come on, join us at the table!"

"I don't want a drink," I coldly state. "I have to go upstairs."

"Oho!" One of the bearded men says this with a chuckle, his voice deeper than I first thought. "'E needs to go _upstairs_ , boys! Who do ya think e's gonna bang up?!" The other men roar with laughter at the implied humor. I just suck in a breath and walk away.

"That drownie can't bang up a sea urchin," the fisherman says with a small burp as I start up the simple wooden stairs. "When I pulled 'im out of the sea in me net, 'is dick was smaller than an urchin's honesty! E's got no chance, not even with Old Ms. Sharpe! Even if 'e pays a heap o' gold, e's got nothin' where it counts. Drownies like 'im aren't _real_ men!"

Something shatters. I don't know whether it's in my mind, or in the room, but I don't care. What I focus on is the insult. I can't let it go unchallenged.

I walk back down the stairs. A cold rage spreads over my skin, electrifies my blood. The men's laughter only fans the flames inside me. One of them stops when he sees me approach, and he motions quickly to the fisherman. That man looks over with glazed eyes as he takes a swig from his bottle.

Without a word, I take the man's bottle out of his hands, sniff it, recoil at the vomit-like smell, and then pour its contents all over the floor.

The liquid pours to the ground in bursts, and that disgusting smell fills the room. The fisherman's eyes widen to the point I swear they'll pop out of his head. His friends stare in silence, too. Then, they all laugh at their friend's misfortune. Some 'friends' they are.

"Ya fuckin' _shit,_ " the man growls as he leaps to his feet. "I paid good money for that! Yer gonna pay for hurtin' me feelings, one way or another!"

The man charges to me. His body sways from what I guess is the drink in his system. He swings a fist at my face, and my Wonderland combat experience takes over. I dodge his attack, spin behind him, and swing the empty bottle at the back of his head. The glass _cracks_ apart, an expression to my inner rage. The man's howl makes it all the greater. He falls to the floor, writhing and moaning. Blood pours from several glass shards lodged into his scalp.

"Hope you can pay for _that_ , too," I taunt as I drop the bottle's top onto his back. The room falls silent for a moment, and I look at the eyes of several drunk or shocked people. Then, everyone goes back to music, talking, and punching like nothing happened.

I stand ready to run if Jack Splatter tries to escape, or attack me. He's not here. The bartender, and every woman in the room, give me looks of anger, or lust. The red woman looks especially impressed; she steps out from the shadows, and starts talking to a woman dressed in faded white. I ignore her gaze as I return to the stairs. No one stops me this time.

* * *

The upper floor of the Mangled Mermaid isn't much to look at. Carpets give the wooden floor some decoration, lamps hang on the wall, and several closed doors tell me that this is a place for 'privacy'. One door is open, though; this room is separate from the others, and a couch is outside it. I walk over to it, and take a look inside.

Jack Splatter stands over the woman from before, the woman's left eye now black as she sobs in fear, or pain, against a wall. The room has a small desk with a lamp, a cabinet, and a carpet, the window still open to the rain outside.

"I told you I'd get what I want," he says as he draws a fist back. "And I'm gonna beat you till I get it!"

"Leave her alone, Jack Splatter," I say as I step inside. "She's not a part of this!" The man glances back, and then turns fully around as he recognizes me.

"Ah, the mongrel," he says with a grin. "Crawled your way out of gaol so soon? How'd you do it? Come on, tell me, one value-seeking member of society to another." I keep my mouth shut and point to the open door. Splatter's smile morphs into an upset frown.

"Well," he says as he steps over to the door. "Since you're asking so nicely, I should give you equal respect."

He then breaks that respect by reaching for my waist, but I crouch down and headbutt him in the gut. He lets out a loud, "Oof!" as he stumbles back a few steps, giving me time to stand back up and shift in front of the woman. I dodge Splatter's next swing, but the space around me is too small for me to shift by.

The sound of someone else walking into the room makes us both look to the door. Alice looks back at us, a confused look on her face. Unfortunately, Splatter's reaction is faster than mine as he takes the chance to slam his foot into my gut. I crumple to the floor with a moan, defeated for the moment.

"You don't give me what I want," Splatter shouts to the woman I lie next to. "I'll burn this dump of yours down to the ground!"

"Go away," Alice finally shouts at Splatter. "She's done no harm!" Splatter turns around to face her, and then slowly walks forward.

"She hurt me feelings," he deadpans as he smacks the burning lamp onto the floor. The glass shatters, fire instantly flaring to life. Alice raises her hands against the flames, but Splatter advances on her and slugs her across the face. Alice falls down, her body limp as Splatter quickly walks away. He doesn't even look back at me as the fire starts to spread.

I move over to Alice's body and tug at her arms, trying to get her up before the whole room lights up. The only thing that happens is my body slumps down alongside hers, my strength fading quicker than I can blink. My eyelids flutter, and then close, as the same voice from my nightmares says one sentence to me.

" _Your journey is far from over._ "

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! We return to Wonderland after a brief interlude in London, with a look at the city's darker side (so to speak). What new adventures, monsters, and mysteries will Kyle and Alice find?**

 **As usual, please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new ideas as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	14. Terrors of the Tundra

**Hello, readers! Here's the next chapter for you. We're back in Wonderland again!**

 **I don't have much else to say, so I'll just drop the DISCLAIMER, and we'll get into it.**

'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any Beta Content not released in the final game. The author own his O.C., and any custom content he introduces into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

Wind whips in my ears, and around my body. This wind is oddly warm; isn't wind usually cold to the touch? Or, is this wind warm from a heat source? Maybe that fire that drained my energy before I could help Alice?

I open my eyes. The wind is actually white mist. I fall very quickly, my hands clasped to my side. My feet are as transparent, like when I used the steam vents in the Hatter's Domain. A stream of orange fire falls beside me; on closer inspection, it turns out to be Alice. Her eyes are closed as her hair flutters behind her. She wears the same clothing she had in the Vale of Tears. I glance down as the wind threatens to force my eyes shut, and see I also have my Vale of Tears clothes on.

Alice's eyes remain closed as we fall; she only moves as we close in on a large area of ice. At that point, both of us slow down considerably. We both land on the ice without much impact. I get up before Alice does, and look around us. The surrounding ice forms a ring of spikes around us, with a single flat path before us leading out. The sky is a dark blue, white stars blinking in and out of view. Lines of green mist, or something similar, trail through the air, shimmering like some otherworldly phenomenon.

A sharp breeze makes me shiver. My hands shake beyond my control. This wind bites at my skin like it has thousands of little teeth. I tuck my hands into my pants pockets as I start to shift in place, trying to keep warm. When I look to Alice, she doesn't look affected in the slightest.

"This place is freezing," I mutter to Alice as my breaths float in front of my face. "How can you stand it?"

"This is Tundraful, Kyle," Alice calmly replies. "The word 'tundra' is literally in the name. A tundra is a place of ice and cold. I can stand the temperature because I know what to expect here."

"You've also probably been here before," I comment as I continue to shiver in place. "That would help a lot." Alice huffs in response, but then turns back to me with an angry look.

"What were you doing with Jack Splatter and Nan Sharpe back in the Mermaid," she asks. "Did you try to pick a fight with him?"

"He had hurt Nan Sharpe," I reply as I start to walk in a circle to keep myself warm. "I saw him argue with her a few minutes before you arrived, and he had murdered 'Long Tim' at the Mermaid's backdoor. I tried to keep up with him inside, but I got… distracted, before I could stop him."

"I heard Splatter's threat, too," Alice says. "But, that doesn't excuse the fact you got hurt. Did you think he'd leave you for the police, considering his reputation?" I frown at this; I don't want to be reminded of that right now.

"Splatter got the wrong impression of me," I say as I walk around Alice's position. "He thought I was some kind of accomplice, because of what he did to me. He was a bit surprised that I got out of gaol so soon, but I tried to fight him off before he could hurt Ms. Sharpe any further." Alice keeps her eyes on me, but remains silent as I make one more loop around her.

Finally, she says, "I believe you. But," she continues with a raised finger, "do be more careful in the future when picking your battles, especially in the real world. We aren't as powerful there as we are here. Now, I noticed a keyhole nearby that I want to check out before we go anywhere."

I give a firm nod to Alice's advice as she moves over to a keyhole embedded into one of the ice spikes around us. I walk a bit forward to get a better look at 'Tundraful'.

Beyond the wall of ice spikes is a wide ocean. The night sky darkens that water as it laps against the ice. Several other pieces of ice— _glaciers_ , my mind tells me—are nearby. They form a mixture of sloping edges and spiky points. I look to the sky and quickly spot a crescent moon. It has a humanlike face, and looks rather content with itself. It also has a _cigarette in its mouth_ that spews the green mist-like substance into the air.

' _This is not too unusual,_ ' I remind myself. ' _Since_ _this is Wonderland, maybe the moon got a change of scenery. If clockwork robots exist here, I guess a smoking moon works, too._ ' I place a hand to my face as my shoulders shake with amusement at my own thoughts.

I hear Alice step over to me and ask, "What are you looking at?" I just spread a hand over the scenery before us, letting it speak for itself. Alice stays silent while I keep my hands tucked in my pockets. We both start moving forward at the same time, as if by some unspoken agreement.

"You know," Alice says while still looking around. "This all reminds me of a poem I heard several years ago. Well, I should say 'recited', since it was told to me by two brothers. The first part of it connects to a beach that was just as sandy as this place is cold."

"Who told you the poem, exactly?" I ask, my curiosity piqued.

"The brothers were named Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They did just about everything together, and not just because they were brothers. The spoke gibberish, and commented on just about anything that interested them. I haven't seen much of them, even when I was last in Wonderland."

"Do you think we'll see them here?" Alice frowns as she turns her gaze to what's in front of us.

"I doubt it. I don't want to meet them again. The last time we crossed paths was when they worked with the Mad Hatter in keeping the Insane Children he experimented on in line, like those Nightmare Spiders in your vision. The big difference is that those two know how to insult you as they kill you."

I don't comment to this because we approach a split on our path. The left path slopes down in a slide, while the right path gradually rises up. Both paths have dark-yellow starfish, and floating teeth, so they each look equally good to take. However, is one path better for some reason we can't see? Which one should I take; actually, which one should _Alice_ take?

Alice answers my question for me as she walks up the right path. I sigh at my lack of initiative, and crouch down on the ice-slide. I try to grasp the teeth that I approach in my slow descent. I drop some of them as I make a sudden jump over an open space between where I slide, and the next patch of ice. I land safely, but that doesn't slow my rapid heartbeat any.

My fear only increases when I see a large blue fish on another patch of ice. It has an absurdly large mouth full of sharp teeth, white eyes, and a body as blue as the ice around it. The ice the fish stands on is shaded black, and it dives into that ice before I make a move.

"Impressive recovery," I hear Alice comment as she floats down from up above. She then says, "I didn't see that gap, either," before I can make any comment about whether Alice planned this out. All I can do now is bite my tongue to hold back my anger as I give give Alice the teeth I still have.

"Those starfish can be broken," Alice informs me as she points at a few of those starfish that are up ahead. "Two were on the upper path, and they've got teeth inside that we can collect."

"You mean, that _you_ can collect," I correct as I turn to a nearby starfish. The Automaton Hammer appears in my hands with its familiar _throb_ , and I use it to shatter the yellow creatures like the Domain's metal boxes.

Actually, how frozen are these starfish? Am I killing creatures that did no harm to me?

No. These starfish crack open like boxes and vases, and they're probably frozen over from the cold. If they could express pain, they would have before I broke them apart. Besides, they've got things Alice wants, and she should have them.

I keep these thoughts in mind as we collect the remaining teeth, and move across the ice. I stumble a few times as we walk; the ice is slippery to my boots. We soon enter a circular clearing, the main path continuing on to the left. Ice spikes rise along the back end of this place, and a large owl's frozen body has a gaping hole with teeth marks.

Another of those fish I saw screeches at our arrival before it dives into another patch of black ice. A Menacing Ruin and several Insidious Ruin provide an even blacker patch to the ice. Luckily, Alice and I can clean this one up.

I shout, "Stick to the plan, Alice?" as the Ruin advance. She nods back as she summons the Vorpal Blade, and I ready the Hammer for battle.

* * *

I teleport over to the Menacing as it tosses fireballs at Alice. I get its attention by pounding its masks in. It gargles at me, and swings its enlarged fist at my face. I teleport to the side, and swing the Hammer into its liquid body from a different angle. The Ruin turns to fully face me, but I channel my mist powers into a leap that sends me over its hulking form.

I spin around while thumbing the Hammer's power switch, and deal a charged swing into the Ruin's back. Jets of flame burst from the bits of engine on its body as it cries out. It spins around as red lines shine on its tar-like skin, and I just manage to teleport out of the way of its charge. It takes me another second to switch the Hammer to 'RM' and ready a good shot, but the Menacing takes a moment to face me again. The ice seems to affect its speed; it's moving slower than the last one I fought.

I fire my shot, and it hits dead-on. One of its masks flies off, which stops it in its tracks. Unfortunately, the Hammer's gauges then flash wildly as the weapon starts to recharge. I want to keep it distracted, so I teleport a bit closer. This ploy works, but I also earn a fireball to the face.

The _put-put-put_ of the Pepper Grinder reaches my ears. A few seconds later, another Menacing mask shatters. The Hammer recharges at that moment, and I join Alice's attack. The Menacing melts under our firepower, leaving behind more teeth and petals for Alice.

A loud growl comes from farther up. What sounds like a heavy breath follows, and then the growl comes back, all from a space that I can't see. Alice taps my shoulder, and points at a weaker-looking patch of ice. I move over to smash it for her, and she shrinks down to go inside. She's back out in a moment, but that growling and breathing don't stop.

As we cross a narrow ice path beside a pool of water, I stop and stare at the face of some massive ape. Only its face is visible in a large hole in the ice, the rest of its body hidden in the hole. It breathes in a constant rhythm, the growls coming from its nostrils as it inhales. Its eyes are too small for me to see at this distance, but its nose and lips stand out from its white coat of fur.

"A yeti," Alice comments from beside me. "Papa had mentioned them during his travels, but I never saw one for myself. We need to get past it."

She then pauses as we both hear a Snout from below us. Alice finds it on a plaque attached to one of the ice walls, and she quickly peppers it up. A breadbasket appears beyond where the yeti's breath blows. There's no way to get to it other than jumping right past the yeti's face.

I swallow hard as Alice points to our left. The smoking crescent moon hangs in a clearer sky, along with a humongous glass bottle. The bottle has a three-mast ship inside it. A nice sight, but there's no way I want to swim across the ocean below to get to it. Instead, we move towards a toadstool spring, a bit of the Vale of Tear's grass growing around it. We use it to spring to a higher walkway, break a few starfish at our new level, and advance on the still-breathing yeti.

Now that we're up close, the yeti's breath flows out like a huge cloud of mist. I cover my nose as I smell something rotten from it. Alice doesn't comment, and she suddenly leaps and twirls just when it draws in a breath. She makes it past. It takes me two more cycles of the yeti's breath to gather the courage to jump over, and I make it over as well.

Alice slices the breadbasket just as I arrive, and we both walk by another giant frozen animal. This one is a type of bird I don't recognize, but Alice seems to. She looks at it for several seconds while scratching her chin.

"An owl back there, a lorry here," she then mutters. "Could all of them be here?"

I don't want to ask Alice what she means by 'all of them'. Did she know these creatures before they became this way? Alice eventually does notice my silence, and gives me a brief explanation.

"The owl and the lorry here are two of the animals who undertook a Caucus Race. This was back when Wonderland was a paradise of my childhood. The other animals were a dodo, a hare, a duck, a young eagle, a mouse, and several others. I joined them in a race where we ran around in a circle until we all chose to stop."

"Was there any reward for winning?" I ask as I try not to look at the lorry's exposed intestines.

"Yes, and no. Everyone decided that everyone else ran equally well as themselves, so everyone was given prizes. But, there was no single winner. In short, it was a complete waste of time and energy. It looks like these animals were doing another race the moment they were frozen."

I shake my head at the logic of the 'Caucus Race'. It then hits me that the participants are now technically dead, and being devoured over time. Now, I just feel sorry for these creatures.

* * *

Alice moves on in silence, and I keep up as we take another small ice slide into a large cave. We land on an orange-and-white checkered floor, a higher ledge of ice at the back and a small space far above. We both notice a new object floating in a smaller raised area of ice on the floor. We walk over and take a closer look.

The object is a wooden horse head on a long stick, with blue wheels at the bottom. The entire thing is quite large, probably almost as long as Alice is tall. The horse head has a blank expression, white eyes, and light blue lines along its cheeks and neck. Its hair is a piece of rope curving along the back.

"A Hobby Horse," Alice states as she takes hold of it. "I remember these toys. They allow children to think they're riding a real horse. But, since it's here, this could be a new weapon."

Alice turns the weapon around in her hands. I snatch up a sheet of rolled paper that flutters slowly to the floor. I unroll it; it's a poster advertising the 'Hobby Horse'.

" _You have just obtained The Hobby Horse,_ " the poster exclaims in fancy black writing above a drawing of the object. " _Destroy all obstacles with Unbridled Power! Stampede through the competition! A Smashing Hit!_ " I roll the poster back up, and stick into my pants pocket for future reference.

A loud _crack_ alerts us to the arrival of one of those sharp-toothed fish from earlier as it breaks through the frozen floor. Up close, I see it has dark-blue and purple scales, sharp claws on lean legs, and teeth that curve into its wide mouth. It screeches at us as two more burst in alongside it.

"Ice Snarks," Alice states as she raises the Hobby Horse for a swing. "Tundraful's variation of the regular Snark, but savager. Don't get too close!"

She doesn't say any more before the lead Snark burrows into the ground. The only thing I see of it is the strange light atop its head. It quickly tunnels through the ice toward us. We both jump to the side as the Snark bursts up, and its jaws snap around air.

I summon the Hammer to swing at the closest Snark. It leaps to the side before burrowing down into the floor. I have to move forward to hit it. Luckily, the Hammer's force knocks it right out of the ground and flips it onto its pointed back. I deal two quick swings onto its exposed belly as it thrashes around, but it then burrows back below to avoid further damage.

I raise the Hammer again, and hear a loud _hiss_ from behind me. Everything below my neck grows a coat of ice around it. I'm frozen.

I struggle to break free, and the Snark from before takes this chance to bite at my waist. Its teeth easily break through the ice, and into my skin. Blood oozes from my arm and turns the ice around me red. I cry out, and my mists respond to my wordless command. I teleport back several feet, and take a knee as I turn the Hammer to 'RM'.

I fire an arcing shot at the Snark that bit me, and the Snark next to that one. They burrow underground before they get hit, but the explosion knocks them back up. Alice charges at them with the Hobby Horse, swinging with elegant steps and twirls. She deals two swift bashes to one Snark; that's enough to split its body in half. Teeth and petals spill out for her, and I swear the Hobby Horse snorts between swings.

Another Snark drops in from the back ledge, and I teleport away from it. When I reform, I see that Snark release chilling breath from its mouth. So, these creatures can let out very cold blasts of air. I keep this in mind as I ready another shot.

One of the Snarks notices me, and lunges. I fire my shot as it is in midair; it hits, and the fish explodes into a bloody mess all over the floor.

Alice teleports next to me as she peppers up the last living Snark. The fish burrows underground, but she gets it back up with a pound from the Hobby Horse. She then bashes the creature to bloody bits. Her final blow causes the entire cave to rumble as three giant ice spikes fall from the ceiling. I use my Shrink Sense to not get hit. Amazingly, the spikes form a convenient stairway for us to reach the ledge.

Alice certainly has some control over her world!

* * *

Alice comes around from behind the largest spike. Her right arm has a large, bleeding bite mark on it, but it clears up after she absorbs a few petals.

"I focused too much on the Hobby Horse's strength," she states with annoyance. "It certainly has power."

I nod as I look to the ceiling where the spikes fell. There are some invisible platforms above us that lead to the small space above. I unshrink as Alice absorbs everything she can collect.

"The Horse is a nice weapon," she states. "But, you've got a more powerful version already, so I won't use it unless I need to. Instead, I think I'll upgrade the Vorpal Blade to its maximum level. All that teeth-collecting is about to pay off."

I smile for Alice's fortune as she draws the Blade and focuses on it. Hundreds of teeth move down her arms and into the weapon as it glows with a reddish light.

The Blade, like all the other times it's been upgraded, looks the same when done. However, Alice quickly demonstrates its new power on the ice around us. She performs a five-slash combo that leaves deep gashes in the ice; the blade's light trail is now dark red with a black edge, the darkest it's ever been. Alice tries another combo against the air, and the Blade's trail looks similar to the colors of her 'Hysteria' state. Her last thrust leaves her grinning.

I quickly tell Alice about the invisible platforms, and she uses them to reach the high space. It looks kind of weird to see her jumping onto thin air. I use the ice spikes to reach the ledge, and turn back to face Alice as she summons the Hobby Horse again.

"This wall's got the Horse's face on it," she shouts to me. "I'd better use the right tool to break it!"

I laugh at the ingenuity of how Alice's new weapon can be used as she breaks open the ice and walks into a smaller cave. She emerges a second later and tells me there were more teeth inside.

"I need as many teeth as I can," she comments as she dismisses the Hobby Horse. "After spending so much teeth to fully upgrade the Vorpal Blade, it'll be a while before I can upgrade again."

Alice summons the Blade and taps a finger against the metal as we walk to the next cave. The ring it gives harmonizes in my ears, a nice sound.

The next cave we enter has two possible paths; a toadstool spring to the left, and another horse-pictured ice wall to the right. Alice smashes open the wall, and I follow her as she smashes a second wall shortly after that. I pause at the sight of a frozen and partially-gnawed mouse in this area. Alice jumps to an ice ledge across the black waters below.

We both hear a Snout below where I now stand. She peppers that up, which causes an ice platform to rise from the waters and lead her to a memory on a higher ledge.

The memory turns out to be of Dr. Bumby as he reports some disaster: " _Grave news. The ship was crushed and her crew lost. She was not built for navigating the Arctic ice-fields. The recent competition of governments in fitting out Polar expeditions is a needless waste of human life._ "

Alice jumps back to me without a word, and we move to the toadstool.

* * *

We can see the sky once again, but this time we also see the Sun. It, like the moon, has a human face, but it is frozen in the sky. It looks terrified to be where it is. Is the Sun is being forced out of the sky?

"This is just like that poem," Alice notes after we use the spring to reach a higher space. "The words are playing out before our eyes…" She then begins to recite the poem, her eyes focused on the terrified Sun.

' _The sun was shining on the sea,  
Shining with all his might.  
He did his very best to make  
The billows smooth and bright-  
And this was odd because it was  
The middle of the night._

 _The moon was shining sulkily,  
Because she thought the Sun  
Had got no business to be there  
After the day was done-  
"It's very rude of him", she said,  
"To come and spoil the fun!"_'

Alice stops after that, a hand to her head. I walk over to help her, but she raises her other hand to stop me.

She recovers a moment later with the words, "I'm fine, I just got caught up in remembering the poem for a second."

I don't press any further as we approach another horse-decorated wall, which Alice smashes open. The cave inside has a purple glow all around it. Ice Snarks patrol on the open space below the ledge where we stand. A giant, skeletal version of the Snarks rests frozen to the left, a chandelier hanging from the strange tip on its head. Some starfish rest around the space below, but we ignore them and summon our preferred weapons before jumping down to fight.

It turns out the Snark aren't alone; Insidious Ruin form from below the ice the moment we land. We split the Snarks and Insidious between us as we move to opposite areas of the floor. I swing with the Hammer's front end, but a Snark gnaws into my arm as I pound into an Insidious. I change focus to the Snark, and keep it on the surface with the same spinning attack I used against the Madcaps. I crash into an ice wall with the Snark's broken remains, but at least the Snark is dead. The Insidious don't last long after that.

Alice finishes up with her foes about the same time I do. Her clothes are coated with Ruin tar, and Snark blood. The petals she collects heal her wounds as my mist heals mine. A close look at her clothes as this happens reminds me of the Greek symbols she showed me in the Domain. I ask her about this when she finishes collecting all the spare teeth in the area, and she quickly explains.

"The ones on my dress are Eris, the god of strife, discord and chaos, and Jupiter, the avatar of mind rising over matter. The ones on _your_ clothing are a bit more confusing." Alice points the symbols out on my clothes as she explains these marks.

"The one on your left is Mars, god of confidence, self-exertion, and the male gender. The one on your right is the alchemy symbol for fire, the most purifying of the five elements because it can easily change form with them."

I scratch my head at Alice's explanation, but accept it. From what she's described, the symbols represent my gender, my desire to act for myself, my 'barbaric' nature in combat, and a raging flame that can change shape. This _does_ make sense, since these mists I control do change my body into air for a few seconds at a time. There's also that 'Unleashed' state in the Domain, too.

I thank Alice for the explanation as she shrinks down for a second. She smiles back from her tiny size, and then moves over to another keyhole hidden behind a darker patch of ice. I shrink down and follow her into a small cave with a Nanny memory and some teeth.

Nanny seems to have some judgement about Pris as she says, " _Pris Witless never saw a bottle of gin she couldn't empty in an hour. Do most anything for thru'pence and a taste of Blue Rum._ "

' _Heartwarming description, Nan,_ ' I think as we move back to the previous cave. ' _But, Alice said gin is an addictive drink, so your words make sense._ '

We then move through an open section of ice to a slightly larger cave; this one has two weak walls of ice. Alice picks the left one to smash, and then another weak area on the floor, to grab a bottle. She jumps back up as I move to smash the right one. That one also leads to a weaker surface on the ground, which I suffer no consequences for smashing open.

* * *

I jump down to find nothing special besides a few starfish, and a ledge too high for me to jump to. I shrink down to check the area and see invisible platforms that I can climb to reach the ledge. I do so, and see a Snout near where I stand. I get the temptation to try shooting the Snout with the Hammer's ranged attack, but I don't think the Duchess will like that. If I recall, she wants them 'peppered up', not 'shot with a ball of molten metal'. Actually, would any sort of meal profit from a ball of molten metal?

Alice comes in a minute later, and she peppers up the Snout after she breaks the starfish for their contents. The Snout vanishes after its usual sneeze, and a large wall of ice below the nose's former position lowers down to reveal another breakable wall. Alice breaks that wall with a Clockwork Bomb, and I see a breadbasket alongisde more starfish inside. I jump down to the floor as Alice collects her reward.

As we meet back up next to a blue toadstool, I realize I don't feel the cold here, anymore. Maybe I've gotten used to it, or just didn't notice it? I lean towards the first reason; I don't start to shiver when I think about Tundraful's air. Alice gives me a smile as we move onto the blue toadstool, and jump into white light.

* * *

 **Alright, that's enough for now. We're in Tundraful, now, and it looks like we're getting back into the rhythm of Wonderland. That is, if that place even has a rhythm to begin with.**

 **As usual, please review, comment, constructively criticize, and suggest new ideas as you wish. Thank you for your continued reading of this story, and feedback is appreciated!**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	15. Sights, Sounds, Sharks, Shipwrecks

**Hello, readers! Here is the next chapter of the story. The midterm exams have arrived for my classes, so this chapter might be a bit weaker than others. Just to warn you.**

 **DISCLAIMER!** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including beta content for the game. The author owns any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Oh, I'd also like to give a brief shout-out of sorts to the people who have recently favorited this story. I'm glad you have liked it so far, and hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The white light quickly fades from my eyes. Alice and I now stand at the top of a massive ice slide, complete with arches, turns, and branching paths. The ocean beyond, and the sky above, are just as black as before. A mild breeze makes Alice's hair fly back as she looks over the possible paths. Unlike the slide in the Vale of Tears, this one has sections without rails on the side. That makes it all the more dangerous for us to fall off, a thought that chills me more than the still-present cold in the air.

"Do you think we should take separate paths?" I ask Alice, just to confirm if she's thinking what I'm thinking. I add in, "I'll try and collect as much of the teeth as possible along whatever route I take."

"That's fine," she says with a nod. "Just be sure to not fall off midway. I won't be able to get you out of the water."

I force a smile at this reassuring statement, and Alice starts her descent. I follow a few seconds behind, moving to the right when I see her take the left path.

Like I saw from the top, this slide has several tight turns, most of them along areas with no rails on the side. I press my butt and feet down against the ice to make a few sharp turns. I do _not_ expect to see smoldering Ruin patches on the path.

These patches glow a blackish-red against the ice's blue. Smoke or steam rises from each one as it sputters out more of itself onto the path. I drift into one of them by accident, and it leaves a burn on my ass that makes the rest of the ride more painful. I'd better not do that again.

I grab as many teeth as I can with my hands; some of them conveniently press against my shirt since I'm moving so fast. I also smash through several starfish that block my path, and add their teeth to my collection. I chance a look over to Alice, and see she has to deal with the same things on her end.

We cross paths once, Alice a bit in front of me. Since she's close by, Alice absorbs all the teeth I hold on me. We split again before she can say her thanks. I resume collecting Teeth, and almost scream as my path suddenly drops several feet down. I land hard on my ass, and grit my own teeth through the final stretch of sloped ice as I feel a bruise join the burn.

One final drop has me land on all fours onto a much larger patch of ice, thankful for solid ground. Alice lands a second later than me, with an elegant twirl that makes my arrival seem silly by comparison.

"Hard landing, I assume?" She asks this with a smirk as she walks over to me. The remaining teeth I collected fly over to her.

"That," I confirm. "And, a burn from one of those Ruin patches. How can that stuff grow on sloped ice? It makes no sense!"

Alice shakes her head and moves into another cave entrance, this one between two large frozen bottles of rum.

The cave has a large space below us, two Ice Snarks patrolling inside. Alice holds me back from jumping in, and summons the Pepper Grinder. I get the message, and summon the Automaton Hammer for a long-ranged shot. We fire at the same moment, and manage to kill one before it can react. The other burrows into the ground with one leg missing.

We then jump down, but three Insidious Ruin and another Menacing Ruin rise from the ice to face us. This time, Alice moves to fight the Menace, which leaves me the Insidious. I fire a close-range shot at two of them as they move in, which knocks them both back. This gives me enough time to switch the Hammer to 'MM'.

The wounded Snark is the first to fall; its body splatters across the floor as I pound it up from the ground. One Insidious slashes at my back, and I target it with another spinning-attack. It's liquid body quickly coats the Hammer's front end. The other two Insidious last about the same time against me, which isn't very long.

I look across the battlefield and see Alice slice off the last of the Menacing's faces with the Vorpal Blade. Alice absorbs the petals and teeth it leaves behind, and a chunk of ice separates to reveal our next path. I start over there as Alice collects all that she can from our foes. We move on through the small entrance, and see something entirely new before us.

A large yellow snail shell is along our path, the large end like a doorway into some enclosed space. I look at Alice, and she looks back at me. Neither of us move inside. We can't see anything beyond the black space, but the fact that the shell is even here should mean it's important.

Eventually, Alice shrugs her shoulders and walks in. I follow behind, and actually enter the black space as the darkness completely surrounds us.

* * *

The darkness fades into a small pool similar to the Vale of Tears. Actually, a lot of the things from the Vale are here; the crying Alice statue, the cow-birds, the flying dominoes and gears, even those snails with trees on their shells. The only major difference is that it's nighttime here. The sky is filled with stars, and a calm twittering of birds fills the air.

The warmth of this place spreads across my body as I breathe in the familiar scent of the Vale. We step to the pool's center, our footsteps causing small splashes as we walk. The Cheshire Cat appears before us, which doesn't really surprise me.

"Here are some tiny brain teasers for some tiny…" He pauses with a flick of his ears before he finishes with, "well, for the two of you." I almost laugh at that, but the Cat turns to Alice with a focused gaze.

He then asks Alice a question that I don't get at all; "How is the Queen of Hearts like a typhoon?"

Alice only needs a moment before she gives her answer: "The Queen and a typhoon are alike in all ways. But, the typhoon doesn't mean to be."

The Cat's grin grows a bit wider as he says, "You're correct, Miss." Then, unexpectedly, he turns to me.

"Riddle me this, Kyle," he asks with a flick of his tail through the water. "What is yours, but others use it more than you do?"

' _What's mine, but others use it more than me?_ ' I mull this question over, try to pick it apart and figure out what the Cat really means with it. It seems like he wants me to answer with something that's important to me. But, how can something be important to me if other people use it more often? Do I always take it back after it's used, since it's mine?

"Do you—?" Alice starts to say to me, but the Cat stops her with the words, "He's smart enough for this, I'm sure." That doesn't make me feel any better as I continue to try and figure out what the Cat means.

Is it an item? Probably not, since I don't remember using many objects often in the past. Is it a person? Well, you can't really _use_ people like objects, can you? Is it a word? That's more likely, since words are spoken by just about everyone. But, what word is used more by others than by me?

Then, it hits me. A word that I've heard so many times recently, one I had to make clear to myself before I called it my own. I say it as my answer.

"It's your name."

I draw in a quick breath as the Cat's eyes widen a tiny degree. Was that the wrong thing to say?

"Very good," he finally intones with a nod of his head. I sigh in relief as he vanishes from sight. Two vials filled with a red liquid float where he just sat.

"Is that… rose paint?" Alice asks this with interest as she walks over to the vials. "I haven't seen this since before the fire! Come take a look, Kyle!"

I walk over and look at the vials, noting the rose design engraved onto the glass. I reach to touch one, but my hand phases right through it. This doesn't surprise me, actually; if Alice remembers these, then they probably only work with her.

The vials vanish when Alice touches them. I jump as the voice of 'Hysteria' Alice whistles in the wind.

" _Paint the rose red, Alice,_ " she says. " _You're halfway there…_ " Then, my vision fades to black.

* * *

I blink, and I'm back in Tundraful. Alice stands right beside me, and we both turn back to the snail shell. The entrance is now covered up with some kind of spongy substance. I don't think we can smash through it very easily.

"We shouldn't go back in there," Alice firmly states. "Let's keep moving."

I nod, and Alice leads us down the ice path. A toadstool spring brings us up to a ledge with a breathtaking view of the surrounding ocean and ice. I also get a closer look at the bottled ship we saw from earlier. Multiple paths branch out before us across the water, but each one leads to the ship.

"Seems the ship is our final destination," I state. "Do you want to go there now?"

"Not just yet," Alice responds. "I'd say this place has some more things to offer, besides a beautiful view. Those auroras in the sky are especially spectacular; Papa had spoken about the great 'Northern Lights' of the Arctic, where light streams across the night sky in a rainbow of colors."

"Certainly has a beauty all its own," I agree as the moonlight almost makes the water sparkle to my eyes. _Almost_.

Alice turns to the right, and I follow her. We jump to a block of ice, another Snout on a nearby plaque. Alice peppers it, and it makes another ice platform rise out of the ocean. We jump to that platform, then to a higher ledge, and finally use a spring to reach a small space with a keyhole leading inside the ice. We smash the starfish around us, and then take the keyhole into an enclosed cave with more starfish and a Pris memory.

We get to hear Pris be against the hobby of model-making as she says, " _So I says to Dr. Bumby, I says, 'Model making's all fine and good, but a waste of a perfectly good bottle. I could fill it with gin for thru'pence.'_ "

"Is model-making what that giant ship-in-a-bottle is supposed to be?" Alice nods to my question, but doesn't say anything else as we venture back out, and down, to where we first were. I don't need to ask about Pris's gin addiction.

The only path we haven't taken yet is the one leading to the ship. Alice leads me along two sloping pieces of ice, the first going up as the second goes down, and then we jump across a gap to a larger space. A flash of something breaks through the water as I jump over, but I dismiss it as a trick of the eye.

Once we land on solid ground, we use a toadstool spring to reach a higher ledge. A solitary Ice Snark lunges at us from below, and grazes my arm with its teeth. It gets Alice too, but it doesn't last long against our combined melee attacks. Once we slice and smash it to bits, we look over where to go next.

Actually, Alice goes to a nearby Shrinking Violet to heal while I look over the remaining ice to try and find a path. I don't find any solid surfaces that get us closer to the ship, so I wait for Alice to come out.

When she emerges, she jumps into thin air. A second later, she lands on a solid surface. I stare for a moment, and then use my Shrink Sense. Sure enough, there's a long platform of purple flower petals where she stands. I quickly leap to where she is after I return to normal size, and the platform's image slowly fades away as I move. Once we cross the invisible path, Alice as jumps to a circular platform that moves up and down.

I keep up with Alice as we reach solid ice. We then wind through a narrow path until we reach another slide that leads to a small pool surrounded by ice and a few Shrinking Violets. We ride the slide and jump off, as usual… until a giant fish with wood for bones and glowing yellow eyes jumps out of the water and almost bites my legs off!

"What the fuck was that?" I scream after we land safely on solid ice, me on my ass with my legs still attached. "Some kind of killer fish?"

"A Shipwreck Shark," Alice says as she helps me stand up. "Predatory creatures made of wood, and constantly hungry for more of it. If they're around here, that ship we saw is in danger of being attacked. We need to get there before that happens."

Alice then leaps onto another invisible platform. When she does, it starts to move along the small pool, below a low arch in the ice. I get on with Alice, and shrink down so the arch doesn't hit me.

The platform moves into a larger cave. Alice jumps off to smash some starfish for their teeth, followed by a Horse-picture wall. I stay on the platform as it moves down the water, and underneath another arch. The new cave I see is much smaller, and I shudder as I see the top of another Shipwreck Shark above the water ahead of me. Its eyes have crosses in them, and its fin flutters like a sail. In short, I don't like these creatures.

We get out by leaping onto a toadstool spring in this smaller cave that smashes us through a weak surface in the upper floor. We land safely, and run until we reach another split. The path to the right leads to the ship, while the path on the left leads to another sealed wall. Since Alice did say she wants to get as much as possible, I point to the left as a silent question. Alice nods for her answer, and we move down that path.

* * *

The next several minutes are quite boring. We actually end up backtracking to the first intersection after the slide, and we don't collect that much teeth for our efforts. Alice seems annoyed as we look back at the ship, but I look with worry at the number of Shipwreck Sharks in the water below.

We now run, slide, and jump across sloping blocks of ice. It doesn't take much effort to do so, and we eventually reach a few circular blocks that are very low to the water. The Shipwreck Sharks are nearby, breaching their fins every few seconds as their glowing eyes shine in the darkness.

The blocks of ice we step on shrink down into the water the moment we get on them, which forces us to move and jump very quickly. We thankfully reach the bottled ship without touching the water, and Alice spots a crack in the bottle's glass large enough for us to crawl through. I don't get scratched by the crack's sharp ends as I slip through.

The moment after I fully get into the bottle, a loud _crash_ makes me flail my arms wildly. A Shipwreck Shark glares at us from outside the bottle, just as another one leaps out of the water and slams its snout against the glass with enough force to shake the bottle.

"You two had better come aboard," a melancholy voice says to us from the ship. "We're doomed, of course!"

I look up and see what looks like the Mock Turtle from that snow globe in the Vale of Tears. His white cow head is very large against his green-and-black turtle body, the head supporting a large, fancy hat. White pads are on his shoulders, and a badge with an anchor emblem is on his chest.

"What?" Alice asks this to the turtle as another Shark tries to bite the glass and gets its head partially stuck inside the crack. "There's no hope, then?"

"Oh, there's an infinite amount of hope," the turtle replies. "But, none for us! Now, get up here!"

I draw the Hammer and give the shark inside the crack a good bash on the snout to try and force it back. It just roars at me in anger as its snout gets a large burn mark. The other sharks start to ram the bottle in earnest.

I climb onto the ship's deck and keep an eye on the crack as it slowly grows in size. I then look to the ship's front end, and note it looks like an angry bird; the bow has the bird's face, the sides have wings, and I see legs carved into the wood below. The words ' _HMS Gryphon_ ' are on a plaque near the front end. I guess gryphons once existed here.

"Confounded beasts," the turtle yells as the sharks continue their assault. "They want my ship!"

"I think _you're_ more to their tastes," Alice comments as she grabs hold of the main mast.

"Never," the turtle replies with a wave of his upper flippers. "We're almost relatives!"

"You're related to soup, Admiral," Alice rebuts with a smug smile to the 'Admiral' Mock Turtle. When did he gain that position, I wonder?

The turtle gasps and smiles for the first time as he says, "I've an idea! We leave this mayhem and go to Carpenter's show. It's better than a gaff. Carpenter promises whatever we don't take seriously can't harm us."

"Whatever you choose to do, make it quick," I snap as a final ramming against the bottle causes the crack we entered through to rapidly grow along the bottle. "They're about to break in!"

"Best dive now, Admiral," Alice confirms. "Or, the sharks will have us for lunch."

The turtle moves to a wheel as the bottle breaks in half and exposes us to attack. The _Gryphon_ lands into the water and rides a swift current away from the sharks that chase us. The red-and-white sails on the three masts catch a strong wind that blows us down the water.

I clutch the nearest mast as I shout exactly what appears to us from the water the moment I see it; "WATERFALL!"

There's nowhere to go but over it. I hear Alice scream as we fall into the wild waters below.

* * *

The waters freeze me inside and out for a second as the ship dives beneath the ocean's surface. I panic as I realize that I won't be able to breathe, but I then discover that, for some reason, I can breathe just fine. How is _that_ possible, when I couldn't breathe underwater back in London?!

"The _HMS Gryphon_ is certainly seaworthy," Alice says without any trouble breathing, or change to her voice, as she hangs on to the center mast. "But, how are we going to escape the sharks?"

"We'll need to evade them, for sure," the Mock Turtle replies, his flippers still at the wheel. "I've got some weapons for that, though they probably won't help very much."

"Any help is worth it," Alice states. "What weapons are there?"

"Cannonballs and depth charges." he reports. "But, they only work in certain directions and ranges. We're sunk, is what we are."

"We're not dead yet," I say as the _Gryphon_ dives beyond the reach of the ice above us. "If we're going to die here, let's give these sharks something they won't forget!"

"You'd better man the depth charges, then," the Turtle says without any enthusiasm. "Use them to get rid of threats from below. You man the cannon, Alice; Gryphon did trust you more. I'll do my best to navigate these waters, dangerous as they are."

We all move to our positions. The Turtle directs me to a lever near the wheel that he says will release the charges. He also explains that I have to wait until the charge safely explodes before I can release the next one. This will prevent two of them from exploding together and blowing the entire ship apart. Alice moves to the front end and takes control of some kind of maneuverable lever with a trigger button on top.

"Here they come," I call out as a few sharks appear from the front. The Mock Turtle mutters something under his breath as Alice fires a few cannonballs at our enemies. Each cannonball that hits a shark obliterates it, and Alice fires a shot every few seconds. Her pace is constant, regardless of whether the last shot she fires hits or not.

I look down as the last shark in front of us gets blown apart. Three sharks come up from below, and I pull the lever back toward me. I hear a loud _cachunk_ as a large spherical object falls from the bottom of the ship. The object explodes after a few seconds of falling, and takes out all three sharks with it.

The Turtle keeps the boat steady against the explosion, and Alice's near-constant firing, as we dive down to undersea arches and passageways made of solid rock. Several different types of underwater plants— _coral_ , my mind tells me—provide contrast to the rock's dull gray, not that that's any help for us in this fight.

After a few more minutes of watching our front and bottom, a new object appears in front of us. They look like the depth charges, but they are much larger and glow an ominous red.

"Oh, no, not mines," the Turtle moans as he tilts the _Gryphon_ up to avoid hitting one. "Those things will go off no matter what hits them. Best avoid them if we want to save our skins."

Luckily for the Turtle, the mines turn out to be quite helpful in taking out stray sharks. I drop a depth charge near one, and the combined explosion wipes out a larger group of sharks at once. However, Alice's rate of fire slows down because she has to avoid shooting the mines in front of us.

We quickly reach an undersea cavern, walls of rock all around us as the Turtle navigates us through without making any collisions. However, large orange-colored crabs stand on the walls, each one having a cannon in place of a pincer, and smoking a large cigar in their mouths.

"Cannon Crabs!" The Mock Turtle's exclamation echoes my own surprise at this creature's appearance. "Oh, this is a fine kettle of fish we've wound up in!" His words echo true as the Crabs start to fire at the _Gryphon_. The Turtle deftly manuevers the _Gryphon_ in all possible directions to avoid the Crab's fire, and we come out unharmed.

"How you holding up, Alice?" I call out as I drop a depth charge on top of a Crab. The sight of it exploding into bits of shell and flesh fills me with delight.

"Fine," she calls back. "Just keep focused on your end, and we should be—"

Alice's words are cut off when a nearby mine explodes without either of us hitting it. The _Gryphon_ flies to the left, and the Turtle strains against the wheel to try and right it again. I look to where the mine exploded once the waters clear, and see a Cannon Crab above us shake its normal pincer at us. The damn thing blew up the mine on purpose!

A loud growl from behind the Gryphon takes away any rage I have for the Crab's attack. I turn to see a _huge_ Shipwreck Shark charge at us from the back, its mouth open and ready to bite a chunk of the _Gryphon_ off. The _Gryphon_ drops before I can say a word, and the shark passes right above us without stopping, or turning around.

"Warn me next time you do that," Alice shouts in our direction. "I had a perfect shot lined up!"

"Shark came from behind," I call back. "We had no choice but to avoid it." Alice doesn't respond to that as she returns to hitting what she can in front of the _Gryphon_. I keep dropping charge after charge; it seems the _Gryphon_ has a huge amount of these.

The waters around us grow darker as we go even deeper below the surface. I don't care about how I can breathe here, anymore. There's no time for that against the assault. The Turtle moves the ship every few seconds to avoid another oncoming threat, Alice shoots down as much as she can from the front, and I drop depth charges on anything I can that comes up from below.

By the time the rock walls around us start to clear up, I feel like we've been through a war against overwhelming odds. Happiness at our success mixes with fatigue at the all the effort we've spent to get this far.

Irony comes in the form of a final Shipwreck Shark from below, one that my depth charges don't hit. This Shark rips a huge piece of the _Gryphon's_ rear with a heartbreaking _crunch_. The ship instantly starts to fall like a stone to the rocky earth below.

Anger fuses with fear inside me; anger that I wasn't able to stop the shark's attack when it was my job to watch what came from below, fear of what's going to happen when we crash. I grab on to the nearest stable part of the ship as the Turtle pulls desperately on the wheel to try and stop our fall. For being so downtrodden earlier, it looks like he really does care about this ship.

We bump and slide against more strangely-shaped spires, large groups of fish scattering before us. Each impact makes me stumble, and it's only through my grip that I hold on. I glance at Alice to see she's kind of in the same position up front. I also see a large wall of rock rapidly approach us, with no way to avoid it.

Alice and the Mock Turtle flail wildly in the water with me after the _Gryphon_ shatters into bits of wood, fabric, metal, and explosive ammunition. Then, a depth charge or three go off at once and fill my vision with fire and raging waters.

* * *

I open my eyes as my head pounds like it's been split in half. I touch my head for a moment, but stop as I brush by a long, thin strand of something next to my face. I try to brush it off, but feel a sensation on my cheek, like this strand is connected to me.

I slowly sit up as I rub along this strand. Turns out this thing _does_ connect to my cheek; it certainly hurts when I try to pull it off. There's another strand just like it on my other cheek, like they're a pair or something. The strands float in the water, rather than stick straight out like a cat's whiskers.

 _Whiskers_. Maybe that's what these are? It's as good a guess as I can think up right now. Where are Alice and the Mock Turtle now? I'm sure they'll want to see this change.

I stand up and wince as a kink in my back pops itself. I take a look around me and realize that, once again, I am alone. Well, not _totally_ alone; a few pieces of wood are nearby, and some fish swim by above me. Not much comfort in that.

I stand in what seems like an underwater canyon. Cliffs of black rock are to my left and right, the dark-blue of the ocean too far above me to reach. Beneath me is a lighter-blue surface, a mixture of sand and rock.

I look at my clothes and see that, once again, they've changed. Besides the whisker-strands on my cheeks, dark-blue strands extend from my elbows, knees, and back. They slowly wave in the water, as well, and I can somewhat feel the current moving through them.

My skin is covered in a green-blue suit, or something similar to it, that extends into webbing between my fingers and toes. I feel dry while being surrounded by water, so this suit probably blocks water from getting into my actual skin. I feel a bit odd being technically naked like this, but I'm not going to complain too much if it keeps me safe here.

' _If I don't die before I find Alice and the Mock Turtle again, then this will be a huge test to my self-reliance._ ' I think this as I pick one of the two directions I can go and start walking at a steady pace. I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for eventually…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now!**

 **As you know by this point, I have chosen to put another of these 'character separation' bits in the story, like I did in the Hatter's Domain. I would really appreciate feedback on these sections, because I am considering including more of them in the future. Please, let me know what you think!**

 **In addition, as usual, please review, comment and constructively criticize as you wish.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	16. Cold Waters, Wild Monsters

**Hello, readers! Here is the next chapter.**

 **I recently had a break period from classes (after the wild and crazy midterms), and that gave me the chance to write a bit more on this story. But, I'm still going to keep posting on schedule, when I can. Just to let you all know this story is still going.**

 **Also, this chapter will have some beta content from 'The Artwork of Alice: Madness Returns'. Again, just to let you know.**

 **DISCLAIMER!** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final product. The author owns his OC, and any custom elements he chooses to introduce to the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

' _You know, the sea doesn't seem that bad a place. Well, when there aren't monstrous creatures trying to devour you._ '

I think this as I walk by, and through, bunches of coral, stone paths, and crowds of fish. I don't move any slower at this depth, which sharply contrasts to London's cold, hungry waters. Actually, how long has it been since I ate something? I didn't have anything to eat or drink during our brief interlude in London, unless seawater counts as a drink. Even so, I vomited whatever was in my stomach when that fisherman 'saved' me.

I _should_ be hungry right now… but I'm not. Maybe this another power of Wonderland's; a person can go on walking, talking, and fighting forever without a single bite or sip.

The fish around me don't look very appetizing, anyway. One is just a pair of eyes with some small fins, another has very tiny eyes in a blue body, and a third has a mouth that's way too big for its body. The lattermost fish decides to follow me around. It gnaws at my body whenever I stop to look at something, which is a lot of times.

The colors here astound me. Compared to London's moldy browns and grays, and the Domain's firey oranges and blacks, this place shines with both bright and dark blends. Yellow coral goes against black rock, green fish against blue water, orange starfish against white sand; the list goes on and on.

Distant rumbles sound muted to my ears. I don't know where they come from, and I don't really care. So long as I can reach Alice and the Mock Turtle again, whatever else is here can just leave me alone.

After several minutes of walking, the canyon walls end at the edge of a chasm as black as my nightmares. I feel _something_ pull me as I look down into the abyss, and take a step back to avoid falling in. The gnawing fish continues to bite my arms, but my mists repair the cuts as fast as the creature's teeth can make them.

A familiar growl signals a Shipwreck Shark's approach from my left. I freeze up, and consider running back through the canyon. The Shark won't be able to fit through the walls. I can go back and find another way out.

The Shark notices me almost instantly. Its eyes glow as it gnashes its wooden teeth together. I summon the Automaton Hammer, but the extra weight actually slows my movement down as I swing it. The Shark roars, and then charges.

The ground _rumbles_ as a giant blue, green, and purple-colored tentacle rises from the chasm and wraps around the Shark. The wooden fish cries out before the tentacle splits it in half with a sickening _crunch_. The Shark's eyes stop glowing as its pieces sink down into the chasm. I stumble back as far as I dare while the tentacle grabs a few choice bits. I notice a mouth at the very end of the tentacle when said mouth eats a bit of wood.

The water turns a blackish-blue as the tentacle leaves. The same _something_ presses me down, twice as strong. I just lie there and slowly work out what just happened.

A Shipwreck Shark was about to eat me, but that tentacle took it out before it could get to me. So, the tentacle just saved me, unless it's waiting for me to cross over the chasm and pull me down.

Maybe whatever's down there attacks whatever comes over its chasm. Is that how it stays alive? Is that tentacle part of a larger creature? Maybe a giant octopus? An elaborate trap? Some kind of creature I haven't seen yet?

' _Don't waste time,_ ' I order my shaking body. ' _You need to get across, or go back and find another way around._ '

Unfortunately, there's no other way around. I could try to swim up above the canyon walls, but that would require a huge jump. Actually, why didn't I try jumping before? That would have been much easier!

I punch the ground in anger at my own stupidity, and then instantly flinch as that punch causes a ripple in the ground around me. Could the tentacle-thing sense that? I'd better go now, just to be sure.

I hover a foot over the chasm. Nothing happens. I wave a hand over, as well. Nothing happens. I then take a few steps back and channel my mist into my legs in what is probably my biggest jump ever.

If I can't make it across, I'll sink down to whatever beast is down there. I don't want that to happen, no matter what.

Once my legs feel like they're on fire, despite being underwater, I charge to the edge and leap across the chasm. The pulling _something_ almost instantly slows me down to a crawl. I float over the abyss, vulnerable.

Fear makes me flail my arms and legs wildly, do something to move forward. I quickly get into a pattern, even though the water tries to hold me back. I force myself through it, and slowly go forward.

Seconds tick by, and my heart pounds louder nad louder in my ears. I make one last lunge with my body, and fall amidst waving clumps of grass that are taller than me. I can't move anymore. The pain is too much. It's agony to twitch a finger. I don't want to do it, and yet I know I _have_ to move on.

I cycle deep breaths as I stand up and walk forward. Once I take a few steps, it's a _lot_ easier to move forward. A light current nudges against my back every few seconds, which lets me time my steps. I soon stroll through the grass as the current guides me along.

* * *

The sights and sounds in this underwater grass forest are new and unique. I see strange fish fused with parts of ships like the ones I saw in London. An anchor with eyes dashes away from me when I approach it from behind. A black-and-white seahorse with glowing yellow eyes glides by me from the side. A fat pink-and-white fish releases spikes from its body when I get near it.

Unfortunately, foes exist even here. I have to skirt by several of those Cannon Crabs as they charge through the grass. A few more of those sharp-toothed fish are here, but they don't bite me. That's something good.

My limbs eventually recover enough for me to walk faster. The water doesn't hold me back, but I don't want to run through here. Besides, if I go too fast, I might go in a circle.

Eventually, I bump into something new; a old, battered, wooden chest in a small clearing of sand and rock. Despite its age, the chest still looks locked. I cast glances around the area before I take slow steps to the chest. Curiosity as to what's inside is stronger than my fear of whether this is a trap.

Suddenly, the chest rises off the ground from a push of four blue flippers, green lines randomly strewn across the flesh. I stumble back, and my mind races to figure this out.

The flippers are attached to the chest and help it move through the water. Does this make this creature a turtle, a chest, or a… turtle-chest? Probably the third choice; the name sounds more unique. I run through the grass to keep up with the turtle-chest.

Actually, my speed lets me float off the ground and swim. I fall into the same stroking pattern as before. The turtle-chest doesn't move any faster, and we soon reach the end of the grass forest. Another black chasm is to my left, a dark cave to my right. The path in front of us turns to a narrow patch of land, but the turtle-chest moves past the cave and starts across the chasm without fear of what could be below.

Black chains suddenly lash out from the cave and wrap around the turtle-chest. The creature struggles against a superior force. I move over, and stop short as a frightening mermaid crawls out from inside the cave. Her lower body has several black chains with sharp anchors at the ends for legs. She uses them to walk along the sand and stone like an Insidious or Menacing Ruin.

Her upper body is shaped like a naked woman with pale yellow skin. Her breasts are the largest I've seen, defying gravity as they bounce with her movements. Her navel has a bright jewel inside it, and her bright-red hair ripples freely. Her eyes are a solid white, her lips black, and her teeth coated with what I assume to be human-like blood.

She clutches a long staff with an orb at the end. The staff is as blue as Tundraful's ice, while the orb is a darker blue-green. I see some kind of face carved into the orb, or a part of the orb, but I dismiss it as a trick of my eyes. The mermaid pulls the turtle-chest into the cave without noticing me. I feel a sense of dread for what she's going to do to that creature, but I also don't want to become the mermaid's next prey.

Before I can make a move, the mermaid whirls to face me. A cone of ice flies from her staff, and strikes me. I sink to the ground, frozen in place. She now stands about three times as tall as me from a distance.

"A human!" she chuckles with razor-sharp teeth. "I haven't seen one of your kind here for forever! Thank you for bringing me that turtle-chest; such a lovely gift!"

"F-fine, you've got your gift," I say with more confidence than I feel as I feel just as cold as I was in Tundraful. "Why did you use that s-staff on me?"

"'Staff'?" The mermaid laughs wildly at her question. "My little human, this is a _wand_! Carved from Tundraful's ice in homage to the legendary 'Winter Wand' used by Wonderland's savior!"

"Alice Liddel?" I instantly ask. The mermaid bares its teeth at me, and I clam up.

"Yes, that woman," she eventually says as she moves toward me. "But, she hasn't been a very good savior, as of late. I, and the rest of Wonderland, have been forced to make our own rules. I worked long and hard to get this weapon, and it's made my life a paradise. But, there are people like you who come here to steal it. I'm forced to defend myself to stay alive."

The mermaid now blocks most of the light as she towers over me. The wand glows blue, and I suspect my green eyes are also glowing right now. I feel completly exposed, similar to when that red-colored woman from the Mangled Mermaid had her way with me. They're both equally crazy, that's for sure.

"Hmm," she says as she points the wand's orb at my face. "I wonder how you would taste frozen up? I haven't had human flesh for so long."

"I don't think I'm t-to your liking," I try to reason as I feel cold fingers tickle along my cheeks, and turn them numb. "Besides, don't you have that turtle-chest to open?"

"Oh, that'll be my dessert. I prefer my main course to be living and screaming. You'll be especially tasty since you're so young and fresh!"

A bolt of fear makes me thrash against the wand's cold, anything so that I can save myself from being this woman's next meal.

"Ah, ah, ah," she says as another blast from the wand stops my movement. "It's pointless to resist. I want to enjoy flesh as beautiful as yours."

I have to breathe slowly through my nose now, since my mouth feels too cold to speak from without tremendous effort.

"I-if you eat me," I slowly get out as I consider one last option. "Alice will kill you."

"Assuming she can find me." The mermaid's grin is too much like the Cheshire Cat as she holds my head in her long, bony fingers. "Wonderland's a big place, and I know several hiding spots where I can enjoy your taste for a long, long time. Now, it's time to—"

I gasp in a breath, and focus on my mists. I teleport over to the chasm before she finishes her sentence. I gasp fresh air into my lungs as my mists give me warmth, like the Domain's hot air.

"Oh _ho_ ," the mermaid shouts from behind me. "You've got some _tricks_! That'll make this all the more fun!"

I look back, and she rises off the ground with her leg-chains. She twirls the wand in both her hands, and fires a green bolt of ice at me. I teleport away from it, and she fires again. I dodge again, and she fires again.

After I do one last teleport, I summon the Hammer and switch it to 'RM'. A bolt barely misses me as I aim at the mermaid, and fire a quick shot. The water trails behind the projectile, and the mermaid shields herself with her arms before she gets hit.

I hold back a taunt as I hear this enemy cry out in rage, or demented pleasure. A cloud of turbulent water and smoke surrounds her body. A moment later, a cone of cold flies out toward me. I teleport below her position, and then behind her as the cloud clears. Once there, I whirl around and fire another shot at her back.

This shot goes wide, and falls into the chasm. I hear a muted explosion far below; what did I hit?

The mermaid's leg-chains wrap around me and pull my limbs like the tentacles in my nightmares. My Hammer is tossed to the side like a toy. I scream from the pain, and the sight of more chains wrapping around my chest and groin

"Your tricks won't save you," the mermaid snarls. "Neither will your friends. The only good purpose you have now is to be my food. Shut up and enjoy it!"

Her mouth opens wide as she brings me up to her head. She's going to bite into my skull and eat my brains. Her chains are too tight for me to teleport away. I shut my eyes as I smell her rotten breath on my face.

Then, a much stronger _rumble_ shakes the ground. The mermaid pauses, and I open my eyes. Another giant tentacle rise up, a large black mark on one side. The mouth at the end screeches at us, or maybe just me. I did shoot an explosive into the chasm. Now, whatever's down there is _pissed the fuck off_.

"The... The Kraken!" the mermaid gasps out. Her chains release me as she tries to swim away as quickly as she can. She gets to her cave as I sink to the ground once again, in too much pain to speak or move. I can only watch as the tentacle notices both of us, despite not having any eyes. Am I going to be its next meal?

No. Against all odds, it goes for the mermaid.

"No!" she screams as she's grabbed around her stomach before she can get inside the cave. "Don't take me! Eat that human; he's much tastier than me! LET ME GO!"

The wand falls from her hands as she tries to pry the monstrous limb off her. The tentacle doesn't listen, or hear, her pleas as it squeezes tight enough for me to hear the _crack_ of several of the mermaid's bones. The woman throws her head back and wails her pain at an obscenely-high octave. Her breasts bounce with each heave of her body; her chain-legs thrash wildly.

The tentacle splits her body in two. Black blood spills into the water as her legs stop thrashing, her breasts stop bouncing, and she stops screaming. Her mouth is frozen in pain, her eyes dimmed. The tentacle wraps itself around both bits and descends back into the chasm without a single glance, or movement, in my direction.

* * *

The pain in my body slowly fades as I lie there. The world flows around me, but I am absolutely terrified of moving. I look up to the distant ocean surface and question whether I'm still below Tundraful, or somewhere else entirely. The Vale, maybe?

My thoughts quickly turn to the mermaid. She acted to survive. She wanted a meal, and I was that meal. She also said Alice didn't protect Wonderland like she should have. But, she used that wand like it was a great treasure, something worth protecting.

 _Treasure_! That turtle-chest might still be in the cave. I need to find out!

I force myself to my hands and knees and crawl to the cave. My knees knock against hard rock as I slip inside. My eyes adjust to the cave's darkness, and it's not much to look at. A few skulls rest along the walls of the single room, a smaller circle dug into one area probably acting like a bed. The turtle-chest rests inside that space, a large and deep crack along its wooden body.

I carefully approach it and place a hand on it; it tries to rise up and swim away, but falls back to the ground without success.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," I say as I rub my hand along its top. "The mermaid's gone; the Kraken ate her up. She must have been scary, huh?"

The turtle slows down as it hears my voice. Maybe it recognizes me from before, maybe not. Regardless, I no longer feel a desire to see what's inside it. That desire was lost the moment the mermaid regarded it as just a food source.

"Come on," I say as I place my hands beneath its body, its size making it difficult to move. "Let's get out of here."

I try to lift the turtle-chest out of the hole, and it helps me a bit with a bit of swimming. I guide it out of the cave as it tries to swim from side to side. Maybe that crack hurt it more than I thought, if its sense of direction is warped.

Once we reach the cave's entrance, I let the turtle-chest go on its own. It quickly rights itself when it realizes it's in open waters, and swims off as fast as it can back into the grass forest. I watch it go until I can't see it anymore, a feeling of satisfaction making my own pain less troubling.

Then, I notice the mermaid's wand. It lies on the ground, nothing else around to pick it up. I doubt the Kraken wants it. It could be useful as a weapon, like the Hammer turned out to be once I found it in the Domain's scrap. It's worth a shot, especially since this item holds great power.

I take a breath, and then race over to the wand and pick it up in my hands.

Absolute cold flows through me, fills me, envelops me. All heat in my body flows through my hands and into the wand. My breath slowly flies out my nose and mouth as my eyes roll back into my head. Another memory unlocks itself…

* * *

 _I breathe in, and out, slowly. My hands are wet with blood that's not my own. That same blood covers my tattered robes, and the pumping heart in my left hand. I squeeze that heart, feel the flesh between my fingers. My eyes lock on the gaping hole in the chest of a humanoid with a 3-of-Diamonds playing card for a body. His face is frozen in pain._

 _I taste something in my mouth, so I spit it onto the body. It's just more blood. The heart stops, and I squeeze it to try and make it work again. It just rests lifeless in my grasp. So, I crush it. It explodes in my hands, which feels good. I killed this card-human, so I should kill his heart as well._

"Over there! _" someone shouts. "_ It's the Subject! _"_

 _I look up. Four more card-humans stand in front of me, armed with large spears. They look at me with surprise, and then anger._

"He's killed a Guard! _" The front-most one announces to his fellow 'Guards'. "_ Off with his head! _"_

 _The other Guards shout their agreement as they all charge at me. A wild cry flies from my lips as I run towards the Guards. Energy flows through my body with each step, until I release it at some threshold._

 _My body turns to white mist as I teleport through the Guard's bodies, and solidify behind them. I then run into the nearest alleyway to escape the Guard's pursuit._

 _I run, jump, duck, weave, dodge, and slide through every obstacle in the narrow alleyway. My heartbeat keeps me moving, provides tempo to my pace. I don't care about how much noise I make, I just need to get somewhere safe._

 _I emerge into a larger street. The houses are curved, the windows dark. The sky is black, and a few lamps along the street give the only light. I quickly glance around me, and then pick a direction to go down. I don't get a few steps forward before a dwarf steps out. He wears green suspenders, brown shoes, and a small red hat._

 _I teleport through him on instinct, and crash into a lamppost when I solidify. The pain makes me hiss through gritted teeth, but I keep moving. The dwarf shouts something at me, but I don't hear his words._

 _I wind back down another alleyway. Hopefully the Guards will split up, or call off the chase. While I'd prefer if they just leave me alone, I can take them all on if they wander off by themselves. I don't know why they want to catch me so badly, besides the fact I killed one of their friends. Is that a warrant for this much brutality?_

 _My legs start to give out when I return to the first area. The dead Guard's body is still here, but no living Guards are around. I take ragged breaths, gulping air down into my burning lungs as I look for another path. Every alley now seems equally bad to me, every street too open for me to hide. I have to pick one, though, and go down a path._

 _I quickly trip over something on the ground, and fall into a puddle. The water doesn't jar my senses to life, or make me move out of it. I just lie down, my strength gone._

 _Why am I even running? I know I want to escape these Guards, but they seem to be everywhere. Is there anywhere that's safe? I could just lie here; it seems safe enough._

 _The air in front of me ripples; a breeze flies by my face. I raise my head up from the water. A mangled, scarred, skin-and-bones cat with a grin far too wide for its mouth sits in front of me. Black scars, or tattoos, covers its thin coat of gray fur. A gold hoop earring is in its right ear, and its eyes glow a bright green._

"Who… who are you? _" I get out of my lips. I press my hands to the ground after I ask this, and push my head and chest out of the water._

"An observer. _" The cat replies with a deep, confident, male voice. "_ A watcher of unfolding events. A pair of eyes that can see which way the wind blows. _"_

"Why are you… here? _" I cough once before I finish the sentence. I feel my strength slowly start to return._

"A simple question that requires a lot of effort to answer. I've been observing you, to be frank. For a good while. _"_

"Are you with the Guards? _" I ask as I manage to rise to my knees. "_ If so, then I will kill you. I've already killed one Guard today. _"_

"Ah, yes, your brutal method of execution. I saw that, as well. That servant of the Queen deserved it; they all do, for what they've done to Wonderland. _"_

"You're against the Queen? _" I can't block my surprise from entering my words. The Cat just grins wider as its ears twitch in response._

"Well, I prefer the term 'bloody big head' for that creature, but my vote doesn't count. In any case, we need to get moving. I know a place where children like you have made a stable camp against the Queen's tyranny. _"_

"What makes you think I can trust you? _" I ask as I rise to my feet and tower over the cat. "_ I'm better off on my own. If you've seen my skills, then you know what I can do. _"_

 _The cat's eyes widen to the point I think they'll pop out of his sockets. Then, my jaw drops as he fades away with a very thin cloud of light-gray mist. I whirl around to catch where he went off to, but I don't see him anywhere._

"You have skill, yes, _" the cat's voice says from all around me at once. "_ But, you have only scratched the surface of your potential. Wonderland has no use for the unskilled. _She_ knew that when she tore the Queen's crown from her head. _"_

 _I instantly know the 'she' the cat speaks of—Alice Liddel, the creator of Wonderland. I knew her the moment I was made. Does this cat know something about her?_

"You can make a better life for yourself than scrounging for scraps, _" he continues as I hear him from behind me. "She_ can't be here all the time. Her recent success may have been worthwhile, but we are all still vulnerable. We need more defenses, more soldiers… more allies. _"_

 _I slowly turn around. He's now on top of an old barrel. His eyes glow like streetlamps against the alleyway's shadows. His words sound like he's addressing a crowd, instead of just me._

"I'll only say this once. Think carefully about your answer; there's no going back once you make your choice. You can help make Wonderland a safer place, the true paradise _she_ intended it to be when we first met her, several years ago. Or, you can continue living at the edge of madness, afraid of even your own shadow. Make your choice. _"_

 _The cat extends his paw towards me, like he wants me to shake it. I look at it, and don't move._

 _If I shake his paw, I'll be agreeing to whatever he has planned for me. But, it sounds like he knows Wonderland's creator personally, and how the Queen died._

 _I knew the Queed died_ _while I was in the Mad Hatter's lab, after I escaped that spider. I had felt a joy at that moment like I'd never felt before. I then turned that joy into murdering what remained of the Queen's forces. They all had to die, becuase their ruler was so hated._

 _The cat talks as if a greater threat will soon be here. Will I be any better off on my own, if this cat can use the same powers as me? Things could be easier for me if I'm on his side, but what if this other threat actually comes? I'll have to fight it, won't I? Is he going to train me for that time?_

 _The cat waits for me to make a move, his paw still raised, his grin still too wide to fit on his face. I flick my eyes between his own radiant orbs, and his outstretched paw. My mind interprets too many things at once to make a decision on its own._

 _So, I force myself to a decision._

 _I shake the cat's paw._

"Excellent, _" he intones. "_ You've crossed the first mile of your new life. Now, for the other nine-hundred and ninety-nine… _"_

* * *

I open my eyes as I feel the cold inside me turn warm. I breathe deeply, and draw air from the water into my now-warm lungs. I rub a hand over the wand's orb. It's still cold, and feels light in my hands compared the Hammer. However, it requires both my hands to hold steady. The orb's green glow is a bit bluer than my eyes, but it still looks very much like them. I practice twirling the wand like I saw the mermaid do, but the wand doesn't move very well in my hands.

A _whoosh_ reaches my ears, and I instantly know what did it. I don't know whether to feel angry, or pleased.

"For someone who is known to attract violence," the Cheshire Cat says as I turn to face him. "You certainly have a magnanimous streak."

The Cat rests on a rock that juts out from a solid wall next to the cave. There are a couple other jutting rocks on the wall, but they weren't there when I first arrived. That's not important right now, though.

"I don't recall you being so kind, either," I say as I raise the wand and point it at him. "You sound harsher than when we first met."

" _Ahhh_ …" The Cat's claws scrape against the stone he sits on as he sounds much happier. "So, you remember that."

"That, and other things," I say, without actually saying what those 'other things' are. "But, they aren't important. Why are you here now?"

"Such anger against a simple messenger! I didn't train you to be like this."

"I don't think you can train someone for every possible outcome." The wand's orb glows brighter in my hands as I feel my anger against the cat grow. "State your message."

The Cat's tail lashes against the rock several times, but he evetually talks. I keep the wand pointed at him, for extra measure.

"The _HMS Gryphon_ is no more," he says. "The Admiral has chosen to spend his last days among the wreckage of his former friend. Alice is heading to the town of Barrelbottom, in pursuit of Carpenter's show. If you want to see her again, you need to get to Barrelbottom as well."

"What about the Kraken? It seems like it's following me wherever I go."

"Best to let some sleeping dogs lie," the cat replies while pointing to the chasm behind me with a bared claw. "There's always something bigger, tougher, and angrier than you, and it looks like you found it."

"How will I know where Barrelbottom is? This place isn't very easy to navigate."

"Let your need guide you. Those who search for something usually find it, even if it's not what they originally wanted."

The cat licks his teeth before he vanishes, which makes me shudder. His advice doesn't seem very helpful, but it's all that I've got beside my own instinct.

The jutting rock surfaces prove easy for me to grab onto and climb up, and I reach an area filled with small stone spires, coral of various colors on the sides of the rock. I dismiss the wand the same way as the Hammer, and let my 'need' guide me across the open water to the nearest spire.

* * *

 **All right, that's all for now. Looks like things are moving along, in more ways than one!**

 **As usual, please review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish. Your feedback would be well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	17. The Underwater City's Mysteries

**Well, I'm apparently not very good with schedules, am I?**

 **I'm sorry this chapter is coming a week behind the other one, but I have been distracted with more important matters as of late. As seems to be the usual case, things just keep piling on. But, the new chapter is here, and I hope you all enjoy it!**

 **DISCLAIMER!** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice series are all owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games. This includes beta content that was not included in the games. The author owns any custom elements they put into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The rock spires aren't much of a challenge to navigate. I swim on level with their tops, and don't face any problems. The water's murky state makes it hard for me to see how close I am to 'Barrelbottom'. At least the coral are nice to look at; their different shades give me something new on each spire I reach.

I do eventually reach the end of the spires. A large barrier of coral blocks an underground path. The coral doesn't stand up to a charged shot from the Hammer, and I get into the path before any dangerous sea-dwellers investigate what happened.

The path winds slowly up until I reach another cave entrance. I don't get to look around before two Ice Snarks pop up from underground, probably waiting for me. I raise the Hammer, but pause before I swing. This could be a good chance to test out the wand's power.

Actually, I think I'll name it the 'Ice Wand', in homage to its former state as the "Winter Wand". If Alice wielded something like this before me, it deserves a good name.

I summon the Ice Wand to my hands. I feel colder the moment I touch it. The orb glows green as I swing it at an adjacent Snark. The fish's body instantly slows down as green ice spreads over its scales. I spin around and point the Wand at the second Snark. The orb turns light blue and fires a bolt of ice in that color. The Snark gets hit before it burrows underground.

The first Snark gnaws my arm, its bite cold to my skin. I teleport away, and then jump away from the second Snark's lunge. As the two Snarks start to move faster again, I get an interesting attack idea. It's a risky idea, but it'll give me a chance to test how the Wand works.

I clutch the Wand in both hands, point the orb at the Snarks, and try to bend or shape whatever ability this wand has to my will. The cold from the wand now emerges as a cone, like what the mermaid used on me. Both Snarks get caught, and turn into blocks of ice.

' _Wow…_ ' I relax my hands as I stare at the frozen fish. _'That's… something. Better kill them before they unfreeze._ '

I dismiss the Wand for the Hammer, and bash the Snark's frozen bodies apart like glass. Nothing else comes up to fight me, so I press on to the cave exit.

White and red jellyfish outside the exit float in a straight line to a path between two large slabs of rock. I jump to the first white one, the surface as solid as a platform from the Domain or the Vale. I see a red jellyfish up close, and frown as lightning arcs between the four spikes on its top part. Best not touch those jellyfish.

It doesn't take much effort to jump across the jellyfish and reach the path. The wrecks of several ships rest on the edge of my vision, but they aren't a concern to me right now. The path leads to a large wooden gate, or arch, before two tightly-packed rows of wooden houses. Words on the arch read "Barrelbottom".

I smile. I've reached my destination. Then, the Cheshire Cat appears on a rock next to the arch.

"What lies beneath this patina of civility?" he asks. He then answers himself with, "Something wicked, I'll wager."

"Wager what you will about the place," I answer. "It isn't a concern to me. I need to find Alice, or the Carpenter, here."

"Don't take things too hastily," the Cat warns with a flick of his tail. "Have a break, chat with the locals. Find some information about what you're getting into."

"Don't tell me what to do, Cheshire. I took enough of your orders when I was learning my powers."

"Your powers aren't what you need help on, now." The Cat's tone is sharp, and I swear he frowns at me despite his constant grin.

"You're talking about _this_ thing, aren't you?" I ask as I summon the Ice Wand for him to see. His ears flatten against his skull the moment it appears.

"That 'thing' is a preserved icon from Alice's first combat against the Queen," he angrily states. "It used to be the 'Winter Wand', but now it's some warped version of its former self. It doesn't want to be left in the past, like the rest of Alice's child toys."

This comment surprises me. The Cat sounds very concerned. How can something that emits freezing cold, apparently carved from Tundraful's ice, be a source of anger to a cat?

"I'll use whatever I want to," I retort. "Don't think I'm the panicked 'Subject' from before. I've changed, and I'm stronger than that."

"That remains to be seen."

The Cat vanishes before I can reply, and I walk through the entrance before I start to doubt my own words.

* * *

Barrelbottom turns out to be a town of closely-packed wooden houses, much like London's East End street. A wooden floor provides solid surfaces to walk on, and the central area has a pedestal, or fountain, with the sculpture of a thin man wielding a giant hammer. Fish wearing very fancy clothes walk along the wood. How can they be comfortable in those suits and dresses?

"Excuse me," I ask one blue fish-man in a black suit and small top hat with a cane in one hand. "Do you know where the Carpenter is? I need to find him for… a friend."

The fish-man looks at me through one eye, and then the other. He then points his cane to the far end of town without a word.

I say a quick, "Thank you, sir," and make my way over. However, I stop as I reach the center pedestal; the sculpture now looks oddly familiar, and I don't know why. Have I seen this person before? In London, perhaps?

I look around the town, and feel my confidence sink as I see Alice isn't here. Did she go on ahead of me, or is she still on her way here from the _HMS Gryphon_? Should I wait a few minutes, or go in the direction the fish-man pointed out?

After a moment's debate, I choose to walk around Barrelbottom and explore the town a bit more. I can't go into any of the buildings, and I don't see any fish-people do so. Maybe this is a time where everyone is supposed to be out and about? If so, there's not much conversation; everyone is just staring into space at their own spot in town.

As I walk back to the center statue, my heart leaps in joy. Alice is here, now, looking at the statue. Just like when I saw her in the Domain, she wears a new dress. This one has the same blue as the ocean waters, mixed in with the pink I've seen on some of the corals I saw earlier. Her bust is held by a pair of white seashells, and a glowing lure like what's on the Ice Snarks hangs from her rear end. A small blue horseshoe, the same color as the dress, hangs from her neck on a blue chain.

The skull that was on the back of her Vale dress has been replaced with a sharp-toothed fish. A few lines of bone, or coral, stretch from either side of the fish's face. I look to Alice's feet, and realize she's barefoot. How has she been able to walk on the rock, sand, and other things in this ocean without complaining?!

Alice's hair now flows behind her in the water, and her lips are the same pink as the coral on her dress. She looks like a maiden of the sea, both alluring and dangerous to my eyes. Yet again, I am glad that Alice is on my side in Wonderland.

I walk over, and she notices me almost instantly. The smile she gives makes me smile back, and she calmly embraces me when I get close enough to her. This feels much better than a bone-crushing hug.

"I'm glad you're alright," she says as we separate. "I figured you'd be able to take care of yourself, but one can't be absolutely sure of things here. The Deluded Depths are known to consume the weak and careless."

So _that's_ what this place is called. I'll try to remember that.

"Now," Alice says with a tilt of her head. "I think we can spare a few minutes to trade stories. Care to start, or shall I?"

"I'll go first," I say as I try to organize all that's happened to me since the _Gryphon_ crashed into a coherent string of events. "You'll probably like what I have to say more."

* * *

I was wrong. I liked what Alice told me just as much as she liked what I said.

Apparently, Alice's path has been relatively linear, but she learned a bit more about her own past along the way. She went into what she calls a 'Liddel Room', in which she sees a piece of that fateful night when she was 7 years old. So far, she's learned that the deadly fire began in her paper-filled library, and she added the final log to the fireplace before she went to bed. However, she claims with absolute certainty that the log she put on was dead; it wouldn't burn.

I believe Alice's claims, but there's no further proof at this point as to if she's innocent. I don't say that out loud, of course, but I can't shake the feeling like she's a bit obsessed about all this.

Alice also comments that she's grown to like the Hobby Horse more than she first thought. She's had the chance to upgrade it once already, preferring it over the Pepper Grinder. The new Hobby Horse is a shade of bright red, the red-and-white mane composed of several studded metal pieces. A studded weight rests where the blue wheels were. A red-and-white 'collar' is around its neck, and blue leather reins hold its face in place.

The Horse's face carries an enraged expression, its eyes the same orange as Dr. Fixxler's companions. I suspect the weapon's rage will be channeled into higher damage for Alice in combat. Or, it could also be that the Horse is becoming more alive; I did hear it snort in Tundraful. Maybe it's seen the violence that Alice has to face, and wants to help her destroy it? So many questions!

As for my experiences, Alice is amazed that I survived my encounters. The mermaid makes her shudder with disgust, especially when I tell her its proportions. The Kraken's appearances make her curious as to whether that creature is helping me stay alive, or just eliminating the more dangerous source to itself at the time. 'Survival of the fittest', as Alice calls it.

Alice shows me a large ticket the Mock Turtle gave her for admission to Carpenter's show before she left. Alice looks sad at the Admiral's choice to stay with the wreckage, but she does recall that, "Admirals go down with their ships". She also informs me that the Mock Turtle was laid off his job as the Looking Glass Line's station manager, and the new 'Infernal Train', as Alice has taken to calling it, is a danger to all of Wonderland.

Alice is most surprised at the fact the mermaid, and now I, have the Ice Wand. She, too, calls it the 'Winter Wand'; she says she used it in the past to kill her foes with clouds of extreme cold. She also recalls the wand always froze her hands, so she had to blow on them to keep warm. I'm not sure whether the Ice Wand will be the same.

I note two new symbols on her dress, and Alice explains them when I ask her: "The one on the right side, the trident, represents Neptune, ruler of illusions. I suspect it relates to the Carpenter, but we'll know for sure when we see him. The other symbol is the crescent Moon, which represents my emotions flying out of control. I don't think that's entirely true, but I know Wonderland isn't the way it should be right now."

We end our conversation there, and turn to finding what we can around Barrelbottom. Alice smashes through a few coral barriers with the Hobby Horse, and I help her spot teeth for her collection. We trail below the town, and find another giant snail shell for us to enter.

"Radula Rooms," Alice announces to me as we approach it. "It took me a little longer to remember what part of the snail this was. These seem to be helpful, so we should go in them whenever we get the chance."

I nod in agreement, and we enter.

* * *

This room is not like the last one. Giant-sized version of the Mad Hatter and the rabbit from my earlier nightmares sit and look down at us. We stand on a wooden table with a few holes around the center. The surroundings above, and below, are filled with purple-and-pink spirals. Clocks, gears, and teapots silently fly all around in a storm of silent chaos.

"There's no time to waste!" the rabbit announces to us. "There's no time at all!"

"Survive the test of time!" the Hatter commands as several Madcaps appear from clouds of white mist. Some are shielded, some not, but they all look ready to rip us apart if given the chance.

"Do we stick together?" I shout to Alice as I pause for which weapon to summon first. The Hammer could deal with them, but I think this is another good chance to test the Wand's capabilities.

"No," she replies. "Separate the horde into small groups, and fight alone. We just have to stay alive until we succeed."

She teleports back a few times, and a crowd of green-skinned humanoids follow her. I turn to the remaining ones and summon the Wand.

"Alright, you bug-eyed freaks," I shout as I feel the Wand's cold flow through me and sharpen my senses. "Time to send you to your cold, dead graves!"

I fire a cone of cold from the Wand, which turns some Madcaps into ice blocks. The other Madcaps jump away with cries of shock. I look at the frozen foes, and another idea comes to mind.

When I froze the Ice Snarks, I had smashed them with the Hammer to utterly break them. But, could a lighter amount of force be used?

I teleport to one frozen Madcap, and stab the back end of the Wand into the ice. The Wand scrapes against the ice with a revolting sound, but nothing else happens. My idea didn't work. I push down the feeling of failure as I switch to the Hammer and smash the iced enemies to bits.

A fork stabs me in the back as I take a short breath. I teleport away, and the fork doesn't stick into my body. My back stings as I switch the Hammer to 'RM' and aim at the Madcap group. The shielded ones raise their plates as I fire right in the middle of them all.

The explosion knocks the Madcaps back. A few of them catch on fire, and the others charge full-speed at me. I teleport away to switch the Hammer back to 'MM'.

Another idea with the Wand hits me at that moment, an idea that sounds too exciting to pass up. A dark glee makes me smile as I summon the Wand in place of the Hammer, and give the Madcaps a 'come-hither' gesture. They rush at me with raised weapons as I channel the Wand's cold in a different way.

I try to picture the attack I want in my mind, and the Wand's colors shift to a darker green in response. I draw my arms back and hold the Wand like a club.

When a Madcap lunges at me, I swing the Wand forward and cry out, "Freeze!"

The Wand hits the Madcap on the head. An arcing blast of icy wind flies through him, and the other Madcaps. They all instantly turn to ice blocks. I lower the Wand, and fall to all fours as I feel my chest heave with a sudden, massive amount of stress.

It takes me several quick breaths to get back on my feet. The ice around the Madcaps has already started to crack. I summon the Hammer, and spin around to shatter them all before they can get free.

At that moment, everything pauses. I appear beside Alice, or she appears beside me, before the suited rabbit. She has a few cuts, but nothing a rose petal or two will fix up.

I take a look around us, and find that all enemies are gone. More may have appeared to fight us, but we survived however long the Hatter wanted us to.

"Come, Alice, don't dawdle!" the rabbit says to Alice. "You've already missed the train!"

Two more vials of rose paint float where the rabbit's giant hand waves across the table, and I follow Alice over to them. She touches them, and they vanish. She then clutches her head in apparent pain as I hear Hysteria speak from all around us. Our vision turns to black as her words ring in my ears.

" _The Rose is red, Alice. Red with their blood! But, there are more roses left bare. Paint them all, Alice…_ "

* * *

We're back outside the Radula Room before we know it. Alice looks healthier than before. She hasn't healed up from that survival fight, it's something else. She seems to know it, too, as she twists her arms and flexes her fingers.

"That Rose Paint has made me… stronger," she eventually says. "I can take more pain before I have to let Hysteria take control." She then turns to me with a smile as she says, "We'd better find as many of those rooms as we can."

"Anything to help you get stronger," I reply. "I'll do my part for that."

She blinks, and then nods back without losing her smile. We press on the path before us, and wind up trailing up and back to the Carpenter's statue in Barrelbottom. At least, Alice _says_ this is the Carpenter; I don't get the resemblance.

Alice finds a Liddel memory close to the edge of the town, next to a dead fish nailed onto a plaque and on display on a wall away from prying eyes. Mrs. Liddel expresses distrust when she says, " _Most theatricals and gaffs are unsuitable for young persons. Punch and Judy dustups are no more than vulgar domestic arguments._ "

I only partially listen to this as I read the fish-sign, the words carved into the creature's skin as blood drips down the creature's gray body. The sign reads, " _ONE NIGHT ONLY! The Big Show, featuring the fabulous OYSTER SISTERS!_ " I look into the fish's eyes as it stares up at nothing… and then moves its eye down to stare at me!

My heart jumps into my throat; is this fish still alive? Who would use a living fish as a display for a show? I turn away as something else starts to build in my throat, and follow Alice past a sign that reads, "Dreary Land Theatre". Sounds like the only place where there would be a show around here.

We jump across a gap from the edge of Barrelbottom, and land on a small patch of wood propped up by some long, thin support from the depths below. As soon as we land, a Ruin unlike any I've see yet rises up to our level.

This Ruin's small body moves in a pattern through the water. It has four arms sticking out of its center, and it quickly sprouts a mask with a guttural hiss when it notices us. It just floats there, not making a move. We don't attack it, so it spits balls of red-and-black Ruin at us. We dodge those, and I see them stick to the surface like slime.

Alice summons the Pepper Grinder and shoots at the Ruin. It retracts its face back into its body before it gets hit. To make matters worse, a second of these Ruin joins the fight. I summon the Ice Wand, and fire a bolt of ice right when it attacks me. The bolt hits dead center, but I also get hit by its Ruin-ball. The creature whines as it falls down to the wood, its mask and arms frozen in place. I put it out of its misery with a swing of the Wand like the Hammer.

I turn to help Alice just as she peppers down the Ruin. It writhes and falls to the depths where it came from. If the Kraken's down there, it'll have something new to eat.

No new foes come to fight us, so we jump along more jellyfish. There are now light-blue ones that act like the Vale's toadstool springs. We soon reach another cave, and a large, worn-down building stands in the distance. I can't get any more details from how far we are.

"Let's take care of this cave first," Alice says. I follow her in, but there's only a bottle inside a giant clam. The clam has a single eye, and sharp teeth in the inner shell. The eye looks at Alice as she walks onto the clam's mouth to get the bottle. She teleports off just before the clam's mouth clamps shut. I try not to imagine what would have happened if she didn't get out in time.

After we leave the cave, we don't see any stable path to the Theatre. Alice's intuition guides us to a hidden path near, and around, an isolated building. She walks down it to reach a Snout. She peppers it, which causes a patch of wood to rise up near the hidden path. A Dr. Wilson memory is now in range for Alice to take, which she does.

"… _epidermis was singed to the third layer,_ " the man states with a monotone voice. " _And the rest of her skin was as brittle as carp scales._ "

I question what this memory meant, but I don't get an answer as I follow Alice back around to grab some more teeth. We then press on, with Alice smashing some old metal chests with the Hobby Horse to get extra teeth.

We jump across a set of white and red jellyfish before we reach solid wood. A chilling male laugh comes from a few feet away, and a man floats in our way. His body is as solid as mist, and he wears the clothes of a sailor. His eyes glow a dark blue as he draws smoking bombs out of thin air.

"Stay back," Alice shouts to me. "That's a Lost Soul. I'll handle this myself."

The sailor throws its bombs at us while Alice tells me this. I teleport away from her, and the bombs, before they explode. Alice summons the Pepper Grinder, but only fires when the sailor summons more bombs. She then shoots the bombs themselves, and they explode while in their wielder's hands.

The sailor cries out and turns solid as he falls to the ground. His skin is a pale gray, an orange beard on his face. He shakes his head, but doesn't move any more than that. He sits taller than either of us.

"Take him down!" Alice shouts to me. "He's vulnerable!"

My body obeys as I quickly summon the Hammer. It is joined with Alice's Vorpal Blade as we smash and slice the Lost Soul apart. Alice absorbs the teeth and rose petals he leaves behind.

Another sailor laughs from behind us. A second later, bombs get thrown right where the first sailor's corpse is. The explosions from those bombs knock us back, and knock the air out of my lungs. Alice quickly gets up and shoots the sailor's bombs as soon as they're out. I get over to her as she slices the Lost Soul to pieces. The Hammer helps wipe the old man out, and I see several wailing faces rise from the man's body into the water.

"Crazed brutes," Alice comments as she wipes a spare bit of blood from her dress. "I've fought these things before, in case you didn't already know."

I stare as Alice, again, answers my question before I can ask it. She doesn't say another word as we move on, and reach a Pressure Pad.

"I'll help you on this one," I say as Alice draws a Clockwork Bomb. Alice nods after a moment and tosses the bomb to the side with a quick detonation. I stand on the pad, which causes a switch like the ones in the Domain rise up from the depths on a long pipe. Alice moves over to the switch and peppers it. This causes two patches of wood to rise up as the final steps to the Dreary Lane Theatre.

* * *

The Theater's entrance isn't much to look at. Two more fish-people stand at the door, and they don't react to us. The Theatre's inside has lush, purple carpeting with bright wood walls. There are gold plates and designs on the walls, and the several closed doors we pass by. Another fish-person blocks up the upstairs path.

We eventually wind up in what looks to be the main room for performances. The ceiling has several masts and anchors strung with rope or wires. Several rows of seats are before a large, raised stage. A giant walrus sleeps on that stage. The stage itself has some extra flair with wave and seashell designs, the hanging paintings that show various times of day, and the deep red curtains. The rest of the area is shrouded in darkness, save for a glowing bottle by the stage's left side.

Before Alice can move to the bottle, a tall and thin man strides out from behind the curtains. He has a square jaw, long nose, and thin lips with some kind of patch beneath them. His ears are pierced, and nails are hammered into the back of his hands. His hair is long, red, and styled to look like waves leaning to the left of his head. What look like black fish skeletons spread up and down his arms. I guess he drew them on his skin.

He wears black 'overalls', so my mind calls them, with a faded yellow apron over them. Black bands are also over his wrists, but he has no shirt or shoes on. His left leg is wooden, like a peg, and he carries a hammer that puts the Automaton Hammer to shame in terms of size. The same trident-symbol as is on Alice's dress appears on the hammer's side.

Judging by everything I see, and the bravado way he seems to move, this man must be Wonderland's version of the Carpenter from that circus poster I saw in London.

"Ah, Alice!" he shouts in a jubilant tone and a great wave of his hands. "Delighted to see you again, my dear. Your arrival is filled with fortunate-ality itself!"

"Really?" Alice raises an eyebrow in surprise. "I… didn't even know—"

"Never mind." The Carpenter quickly cuts Alice off before he continues with vivid movements of his body to emphasize his dramatic pauses. "My pregnant show... is about to pop! It requires only a medicament of your helpful-osity."

"I don't have much experience," Alice says with a chuckle as the Carpenter jumps down from the stage to us with an impact that shakes the floor. "But, I do need to reconstruct… my…"

"We can barter," the carpenter speaks up as he stands at twice our size. "I have a screwdriver, nearly new, or a nice hammer, if you're more interested in—"

"Excuse us, Sir," I forcefully interrupt before the conversation turns into some sort of shopping spree. "But, we are on a mission. There's an Infernal Train that's corrupting Wonderland as we speak. We need to know whether you will help us restrain, or destroy it."

The Carpenter stares at me like I've grown a second head, and he doesn't like it. When I glance at Alice, she just smirks at me. The giant in front of us turns to muttering as he paces back and forth. The walrus behind him, who I now realize is wearing some kind of frill around its neck, and a small hat on its head, snores on.

"A most vexatatious problem, no doubt." the Carpenter finally says while still pacing. "We'll address that, ah, monstrosity directly. That's to say, eventually."

I purse my lips at this misdirection, but I don't speak up. If he'll help us _eventually_ , that's better than _not at all_.

"Now," he says with a dramatic point upward. "Let's intermediate more important matters. Due to a logisterical foul-up, some of the show's requisites need to be gathered.

"The munificent script needs fetching. The writer's overly imaginative and exploring several endings. Then, you'll need to assemble the show's tune-deaf music. And, finally, gather our stars! The show's tasty—nay, taste _ful_ performers. You should leave now. The essentiality of haste is essential!"

"It hardly seems you're ready for the show," Alice comments, echoing my opinion exactly. "Why can't you assemble these things yourself?"

"An impresario has arrangements," the Carpenter responds with even more pompous movement. "Ducks to row, fish to fry, coals to Newcastle, etcetera, etcetera. Fetch the script from the writer! Then, we can batter or clatter or natter as the case may be."

"Is the writer cantankerous?" Alice asks with her hands on her hips. I don't know what that word means, so I remain silent.

"To a personage of your distinguished repudiation?" The Carpenter replies before he dramatically places a hand over part of his face for a second. "I blush at the nationality! He's an octopus, by the by. Lives over that way. Tata!"

He finishes with a wave as he walks off, but I swear he glares at me for a second.

I turn to Alice as she takes a quick breath, and then moves to collect that bottle I saw earlier. I look at the shrouded platforms, boxes, and ladders all over the room. Whatever show the Carpenter has planned, it looks like it's going to be big.

* * *

Once Alice comes back, we realize the upper path has opened up. However, there are a few shells that Alice says she can smash open for teeth to the far right. We head to the right first, and we find a keyhole that leads to a small room with several seats, and a Nanny memory. Technically, I should call her 'Nan Sharpe', though; I'm not related to her.

Ms. Sharpe seems to be talking to a younger Alice when she was teaching her when she says, " _If you spent as much time practicing as you do in 'Wonderland', you'd be the next Sullivan. Or Gilbert. One of them._ "

"I hope Nan is doing alright," I blurt out. I instantly regret it when I see Alice shoot me a dark look. It clearly says, ' _N_ _ow's not the time for that_ '.

We move back through the keyhole and to the upper path without another word. The Cheshire Cat appears before we move on, and gives us each a flick of an ear as he looks us over.

"You two seem fortified enough to kick some a…" I almost laugh as he catches himself before he finishes saying that last word, like it's a term that's below him. He eventually finishes his sentence with, "… to boot these creature's nether regions."

"We'll try to kick some _ass_ , Cheshire," I reply with my own grin to the cat. He chuckles through his teeth as he fades away and Alice lets out a dramatic sigh.

"I swear," she then says. "You two keep bouncing off of each other. You may have met before, but you treat each other like arch-rivals!" I have no answer for that beyond a shrug of my shoulders.

We move out into an open area with some rocks, tall grass, and the Neptune symbol engraved on some kind of small slab. The fact that it's open makes me feel like we're about to have a big fight…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. I wonder what sort of 'big fight' Kyle and Alice will have to deal with? Will they complete the Carpenter's errands?**

 **As usual, reviews, constructive criticism, and comments are well appreciated. Feedback is welcomed on the story's progress! I will do my best to keep with my set schedule from now on.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	18. Write and Sing, Under the Sea

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter for you all to enjoy, now on schedule!**

 **Nothing major has happened with this story since I posted the last chapter, so I'll just let you get right to it. However, this chapter is a bit shorter than other ones. The reason for that is I haven't had as much time this week to write for the story.**

 **There's also a bit of dialogue that might be misspelled, but I'm following how the game chose to spell it. Just to let you know.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns, and the 'American McGee's Alice' series belong to Spicy Horse and EA Games. This includes any beta content for these games not used in the final version. The author owns any custom elements he chooses to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The moment we land, two of those 'Cannon Crabs' crawl out from a small cave. Up close, these creatures have orange-brown shells, beady black eyes, large cigars in their mouths that are lit despite being underwater, and cannons for right front pincers. They are about twice our size, and give us angry looks.

At an unseen signal, the Crabs both strike their cannons with their actual pincers, which causes the weapons to spark. They then use thier cigars to light the spark like a fuse. The fuses smoke for a second as the Crabs point the cannons at us, and then fire metal balls at us. I barely teleport out of the way of one, and then move in close.

I summon the Automaton Hammer, and swing into the Crab's shell. The impact stuns it, so I do it again. My muscles scream with the exertion of two quick swings, but I do knock the Crab onto its back on the second impact. Its soft stomach lies exposed as it uselessly wriggles its many limbs. I try to make one more swing, but the pain is too much. The Crab flips itself back up with some crazy leap, and I teleport back until I get to a large rock.

I switch to the Ice Wand as I catch my breath. I channel the Wand's magic into a sphere, and step out from behind the rock. The Crab fires its cannon as I launch my sphere. The two objects collide and explode into shards of ice and metal. I teleport through the shards, and fire a green bolt of ice at the Crab's cannon-arm before it can fire at me. My bolt actually freezes up the arm, but the Crab doesn't react.

The Crab slams its arm against the ground, which shatters the limb to bits. I stare as the Crab spits out its cigar, and then charges me. Its remaining front pincer snaps once, and then darts forward. The next thing I know, I'm flat on my back with a stinging pain across my cheek. Was I just slapped? By a pincer?

The Crab scuttles on top of me, and I roll away before it stomps its legs all over me. Once clear, I leap back up and swing the Wand like a club at the Crab. My swing hits its face, which partially turns into ice. I switch to the Hammer as the Crab stumbles back, and swing into its shell until it flips back over. This time, its body breaks apart when I keep hitting its exposed underbelly.

I look up from the broken corpse to see another Crab walks out from the same cave, cannon sparking. I teleport to the opposite wall from it, and its shot slams into the wall with a small explosion. Alice is already at the wall, Vorpal Blade covered in very dark blood. We stay behind the wall as the Crabs bombard us, and counter when we can. Alice deflects some shots with the Umbrella, while I stick to the Wand's ice spheres.

Eventually, a shot Alice deflects hits the Crab that fired it. It flies onto its back and wriggles wildly. Alice teleports up to it, and I teleport to the still-standing Crab. I stand between it and Alice as I hear the Blade tear through skin and organs. The sound doesn't affect me.

The Crab swings its pincer, and I dodge. I fire an ice bolt, and it actually leaps back several feet. Then, it lights another shot. Alice teleports in front of me just as the shot fires, and the Crab gets a cannonball in its own face. It flies onto its shell, just like its companion.

I turn around and see that comapnion get back up, but it has a bleeding stump where its cannon-arm was. I switch to the Hammer, charge at it, and spin around before slamming into its shell. A satisfying _crunch_ reaches my ears as the Crab flips right back over again. I hear similar sounds from nearby as I assume Alice bashes the other Crab into submission. I just focus on smashing the Crab in front of me to pieces.

Once blood and body parts coat the water around me, I turn and look back to Alice. She's dealt with her Crab, and we both hear the grinding of stone. We look to that slab with the Neptune symbol, which slides back to reveal a switch from the Domain. Alice peppers it until it turns green, which causes a few stone heads to rise from the ground. We jump onto those to reach a second switch. When that's peppered, the way out is opened to us.

We then reach a group of jellyfish, but they are off the main path. There's not many teeth on them, either. Alice doesn't look like she wants to take the time, but I do want her to be as strong as possible.

"I'll go get the teeth there." I announce to Alice. "You can rest up for a bit; I'm sure you need it."

She smiles at my observation, and I jump to the first white jellyfish. I grab the floating tooth there, and then carefully begin to navigate the group and get all the teeth here. The pattern I follow puts me on a long loop back to where Alice is, but I take my time and give my body a chance to recover its strength between each jump.

* * *

I come back to Alice after what feels like several minutes of slow jumping across jellyfish, several white teeth now in my hands. Alice absorbs them all in a moment, and we press on to a small cave. The cave's entrance leads to a much larger inner space, complete with a desk, shelf, and several sheets of paper carelessly thrown about. The smell makes me gag; it's too much like my vomit.

"Place smells like a ripe distillery." Alice comments as she places a hand over her nose and mouth. "With a whiff of halitosis and urine, as well."

"That's the scent of unrecognized genius." a large, red octopus with white eyebrows shouts at us with the same accent as the March Hare. "So, piss off!" The octopus sports a simple black hat that he adjusts with a tentacle as he floats down to our level.

"More empties than a Dublin brewery." Alice states to this sea creature. "The Carpenter sent us."

"For starters," the octopus says while wriggling several of its eight tentacles. "The Carpenter is a pusillanimous, parsimonious, pettiflogging moron!" I don't know what those words mean, but they sound like insults.

"That he may be," Alice quickly agrees. "But he sent us for the script. We need—"

" _Your_ needs are _shite_!" I bristle as the octopus comes within inches of our faces. I smell a twinge of alcohol on his breath; has he been drinking while working?

" _I_ need a drink! Who cares. _I_ need those responsible for my abortive career in chains, no joy. _I_ need to know what _LOVE_ is! The world is mum." He moves back with a surge of his tentacles. I want to slap some sense into him.

"Just now, I need a dose of hide-and-seek. Find me thrice, fair children." he demands as he floats out a large back space that might be the actual front entrance. "Be quick about it. Then, we can deal."

Alice and I look at each other, and I'm certainly confused. To make matters more complex, the Cheshire Cat then appears next to a large bottle.

"A lifetime hiding his true colors has given him an edge." he comments about the octopus. "But, he can't conceal the way he moves."

"Ah, I see." Alice replies before she turns to me. "We need to follow its ink trails. An octopus leaves those behind where it moves."

The Cat is gone when I look back at where he stood. I don't know what else an octopus does, so I agree with her.

We move across a few invisible platforms, jellyfish, and a geyser to reach an area full of purple bottles. I smash the closest bottle open with the Hammer, but all that comes out is a cloud of red ink. The octopus isn't here, and now I have ink in my eye. This game is not fun.

I hear a Snout sneeze as I wipe my eyes clean, in time to see Alice slice open a breadbasket for its teeth and petals. I smash open another bottle in the meantime, but all I get is more ink. There aren't any more bottles here, just a large gap filled with red electric jellyfish. I shrink down, and see a very narrow walkway with multiple paths that lead to floating teeth that goes by the jellyfish.

Alice comes over as I grow to normal size. I point the path to her, and we use some delicate footwork to walk to our next destination. Alice gets the teeth along the way, and we reach a space with a lot more of the bottles. Alice joins me in smashing the bottles this time, and I make sure I dart back after each strike to not get more ink in my eyes. The octopus is in the last bottle we break open.

"This is too easy!" he shouts as he quickly swims into the open waters. A small trail of black ink flows behind him, but it fades from sight in a few seconds. Luckily, we already know how to find him, so we press on. We cross more invisible platforms in another gap of open water to reach a series of raised wooden platforms.

I stand on a Pressure Pad as Alice jumps into thin air. She then lands on something solid, which takes me a moment to figure out. She shoots pepper at what I assume to be a switch, but I can't see it from where I stand. Once Alice is done, she comes back and motions me to get off the Pad. I do so, and follow her forward.

Alice suddenly detours to grab a bottle, and I see the next bottle-filled space via toadstool spring. Once we get there, we break all the bottles, but there's no octopus in them. Is he playing another game with us, now?

"This octopus has an attitude." I comment as I notice a large yellow starfish with a large nose and thin black mustache on one of the walls here. "Why does he want to do this, again?"

"He probably wants to experience the thrill of the game." Alice replies as we move through a seashell-keyhole to a space with even more bottles. Luckily, I notice the bottle that has the octopus almost instantly—his red skin stands out quite a bit against the bottle's ink. I smash the bottle and release him while Alice smashes open a few rusted chests on the far ends of this small space.

"Oh, you have me now," the octopus says as he swims off. "But, you won't have me again!" I bite my lip in frustration at his insistence to keep this game going.

We cross even more blue jellyfish, and a geyser, to another wooden island. Another Pressure Pad is here, which I stand on as Alice moves to a nearby wooden platform. Once again, she uses the Pepper Grinder something I can't see, and then comes back as another jellyfish-spring and wooden island rise from far below.

We use these to reach a cave with a raised iron gate. It doesn't slow us down in entering the cave, but it does lower behind us and trap us inside. My fear of being trapped here is remedied somewhat by a Bumby memory with a strange connection to that feeling: " _Unpleasantness, remote in time and space, has only as much power as vivid memory offers it._ "

"But, you don't want me to have vivid memory, do you?" Alice asks to Bumby's voice with a dark frown. She stays quiet as she moves on, and I follow behind with a sense of worry.

We jump down to a large, open space, and two Lost Souls appear to challenge us. Alice quickly peppers one up before it can throw its explosive load, and it gets stunned. I teleport over to the crazed pirate and thumb the Hammer's switch very quickly to increase its charge. Each swing gets stronger, and the Soul breaks apart beneath my force.

When I look up, the other Soul is still in its misty state. Alice has the Grinder aimed at it, ready to fire. She has to wait for the Soul to ready more bombs before she can stun it. She kills it before I can help her. Her expression doesn't change from earlier. I suppose finding the octopus is a higher priority.

When we reach yet another set of wooden platforms, we execute the same switch-activating procedure as before three times in a row. Doing this task three times over doesn't feel boring to me, though; any help I can give to Alice is a step up in my book. I really prefer her being happy, rather than upset.

Once the switches are peppered up, I see a third Lost Soul appear where we fought the other two. However, Alice moves on past a few ink-filled bottles without fighting it. I follow behind without any questions. The Soul's bombs actually blow up one of the bottles we pass by. It laughingly taunts us as we cross a large wooden platform, and leave it behind.

This next space is full of bottles, and starfish with giant eyes. I refrain from breaking them all up, and instead follow Alice's lead in careful observation. We soon find the octopus in the furthest bottle in the back, and smash it open. He looks rather pleased to have been found.

"It's all in the game." he says with a calm face. "A fair cop. You've won. You're both good sports, and no one died! Join me in the library. Unlike some, I don't welsh."

He swims over to a nearby cave, and we follow him in as loud music blares from some kind of record player inside. This space looks like the workshop we met him in, but a lot more organized. This might even be his home, though he calls it his library.

"The Carpenter has commissioned a song and dance number on morality, art and good sense be damned," the octopus explains as Alice runs around and smashes rusty chests to get any teeth she can. The octopus doesn't mind her doing this.

"He demands mirth, silliness, and restrained debauchery all around," the sea denizen continues. "Walrus will do a hero's turn as Death. Imagine! I'll bring the script to the Theater. You two can be on your way."

A large fish head at the library's back end opens up like a gate to reveal the next path we need to take.

"No doubt Carpenter's got you collecting piscine divas for the musical portion," the octopus states as I move to Alice. "The man rarely hires the proper talent! Some fish can sing… but not all."

I roll my eyes as we walk into the giant fish's mouth, glad that we leave the octopus behind to his apparent talent.

* * *

"It's all wrong!" we hear from a sing-song voice as we enter a strange open area with three colored pipes leading to different directions. The voice belongs to a floating bottle with the fins, eyes, tail, and blue scales of a fish. I step away from Alice as she peppers a Snout that's on a neighboring wall, and collects the teeth from a breadbasket that appears on the lower surface.

"If I had ears, they'd be hurting!" the fish shouts. Its voice starts to get on my nerves. It constantly switches notes, like it can't find the right tune. I follow Alice to a set of three pink spires that lead up to the fish. It finally notices us when we get to the top spire.

"I'm not terribly musical," Alice comments with her hands behind her back, "but you seem out of tune."

"It's not my fault!" the fish cries out. "I can't hear my notes! The pipes are obstructed!"

"I can see that," Alice says as I note red, blue, and yellow speakers on different sides of this area. "Why not do something about it?"

"And endanger my vocal cords?" the fish screams at us, like we just insulted it in the worst way possible. "You two might do it for me?"

"Everyone here has an excuse for doing nothing," Alice spits out as she crosses her arms in front of her chest. "Reminds me of the asylum!" I stay silent as Alice jumps down and vents her anger on some rusted chests in the area. I jump down when she finishes up.

"So," I ask her. "How do we do this? Split up, or stick together?"

She almost instantly replies with, "Stick together. I don't want either of us to be left unprotected, and we'll get each pipe cleared up faster as a team."

I nod in agreement, and we move to the yellow pipe first. After we walk up a small slope, we reach an open area that I'm sure has enemies waiting for us. The yellow pipes are in the distance, and lead to a drum set that has tentacles holding the sticks.

We jump down, and are met by Insidious Ruin and Ice Snarks. I summon the Wand as Alice slices the Insidious apart with quick teleports and Vorpal Blade slashes. I fire blue ice bolts at the Snarks to get their attention. They hiss angrily at me as they see my weapon.

The Snarks burrow underground and tunnel towards me, but their lures remain above ground. That helps me figure out where they are, and I switch to the Hammer to bash them up. I pound one right out of the ground with a good blow. Before I can hit it, though, the strands on my back vibrate wildly.

I instantly spin around and, amazingly, swing the Hammer into another Snark's jaw. The Snark dies before it hits the ground, and I fly into a nearby rock. I regain my senses as Alice moves over to me and slices the remaining Snark with the Blade.

Her dress is coated in Ruin, but it quickly melts onto the ground. We move over to the clogged drums, and Alice bashes the Ruin off them with the Horse. The tentacles instantly start playing a steady beat that travels down the pipes, back to the area with the fish. Then, in an instant, we arrive there.

"You've made a respectable start to it." the fish says as we move to the blue pipe. "But, a decent job would require considerably more application. I'm sure you'd like to do a decent job!"

We don't say a word to it as we move to the blue pipe. Talking to this fish now will only delay our goal.

* * *

The blue pipe leads to another large area. The instruments here are a set of horns, clogged by Ruin. More Insidious Ruin join a Cannon Crab to stop us.

Alice focuses on the Crab with the Hobby Horse, which leaves me the task of cleaning up the Ruin. I summon the Ice Wand and test out its range by freezing the Insidious who get close to Alice's position. Once I'm satisfied with the test, I run up to them and release an arc of green-colored ice at them. They all freeze up at once.

The Crab gives a loud cry as I hear the Hobby Horse let out a wild neigh. Alice then quickly joins me in shattering the frozen Ruin. I feel satisfied to break these enemies apart; I hope Alice feels the same way.

After we bash the Ruin off the horns, they begin to play a loud, bombastic tune that actually pumps me up for another fight. When I blink, we're back in the main area once again. I feel a bit strange at the fact Alice and I got plucked up and placed somewhere else. Then again, stranger things have happened to us already.

"That's all well and good," the fish comments as it hears the horns join the drums. "But, my range needs a fully functional orchestra!"

I sigh as Alice shakes her head at the fish's demands, but we move to the red pipe, the last one, without objection.

Once again, an open area awaits us when we see three Ruin-clogged stringed instruments. They look like they fuse into one when I look at the bottom of the object. We instantly move to the side walls as a Menacing Ruin joins a few Ice Snarks to fight us. This looks like our final opposition to complete the fish's tune.

This time, our foes seem to work together. The Menacing stays in between the Snarks and flings fireballs at us, while said Snarks lunge at us, snap a few times, and then tunnel back to the Ruin. My Hammer's Ranged Mode proves invaluable here; its charged shot blows burrowed Snarks up to our level. Alice then peppers the fish down as I fire ice bolts from the Wand. I switch back to the Hammer after all the Snarks die.

The Menacing growls at us as it wiggles its small arms. It charges, and I easily avoid it. Alice moves in with the Hobby Horse and the Vorpal Blade before I get into the action. She shatters one of its three masks in a single combo.

I join in with a sphere from the Ice Wand, switch to the Hammer, and bash the frozen area. The Menacing swipes us both once with its enlarged arm before it melts apart. The strike doesn't really hurt, it's just annoying.

Once the Ruin goes away, we get the stringed instruments clean. They play a soothing tune the instant they're free. Then, we suddenly appear back with the fish. The full tune is complete, but the fish still seems agitated.

"There's something wrong," it tells us, not that we couldn't figure that out for ourselves. "I can't find the time for the notes!"

"It's surely not lost," Alice suggests. "Perhaps mislaid. I suppose I'll have to help you carry the tune. Better be light."

"I'll keep rhythm, as well," I pipe in, "if that'll be any help."

Both Alice and the fish don't object, so I start clapping my hands in time with the beat from the drums. Alice and the fish work together to sing two bars of a simple-sounding tune. Our combined efforts produce some nice music. I guess it can fit for a show that apparently focuses on silliness and mirth.

"The audience will be grateful for your efforts!" the fish proclaims once we complete our tune.

"I doubt it." Alice replies as she glances to the ground. Is she embarrassed about the sound, or at the fact she helped make the music at all?

"The performer's meager efforts will be enhanced by my musical score!" the fish loudly proclaims with a high note at the end. "Please wake them with this exciting news!"

Another slab of rock with the Neptune symbol slides up to reveal our next path. The fish swims off as we walk down the path, entering a branching path among rocks and more strands of underwater grass.

* * *

Alice grabs a Radcliffe memory from inside a snapping clam. Radcliffe seems to be describing a patient as he says, " _…Not burned beyond recognition, as I recall. It was the smoke, you see. One day, you'll join them in the Oxford family vault, I imagine._ "

"Shut up, you overgrown sod!" Alice mutters through gritted teeth. Her anger is so sudden, it scares me. Where did this reaction come from?

Luckily, or not, the Cheshire Cat emerges on another rock, right after Alice gets some extra golden teeth from another clam. He seems more smug than usual; his grin is a bit less, his eyes a narrower than last time.

"Two down, one to go," he declares. "Oysters are the preemptive stars of the show—if you can wake them."

I hear a slight gasp from Alice at the word 'oysters', but the Cat vanishes before she can say anything.

"Oysters…" Alice repeats as she looks into some distant space. "If this is what I think it is…"

"I'd like to know what you're thinking, actually." I say, which makes Alice jump slightly. She quickly collects herself and explains what's on her mind.

"Remember that poem I mentioned in Tundraful? It involves a Carpenter, a Walrus, and a family of oysters who take a long walk on the beach under a sky just like Tundraful's. However, by the end of the walk, the oysters…"

She pauses, and looks away with a disgusted expression. I think I understand what she doesn't say—the poem doesn't end well for the oysters.

"We'll find out what happens when that happens," I try to calmly say as my mind has flashes of grisly oyster deaths. "Let's just finish the Carpenter's errands, for now."

Alice nods, and takes a second to compose herself. She then leads us up some invisible platforms to reach a Radula Room. We walk in without pausing to consider what's inside.

* * *

I'm in green water. _Murky_ , green water. No, wait, I'm on the front end of the _HMS Gryphon's_ deck, in murky green water.

How is this possible? The ship broke apart, I saw it happen.

"Alice?" I call out. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" she calls back. I turn around and see her holding onto the wheel the Mock Turtle used to steer the ship. "The Mock Turtle isn't here, and these aren't Tundraful's waters. You man the weapons, and I'll steer us to safety!"

A familiar growl turns my attention back to the front. Shipwreck Sharks come at us in small groups, their eyes not very bright against the thicker waters. I quickly grip of the lever Alice used to control the cannon, twist it to face the closest Shark, and press a button on the lever's end to fire a shot. The lever moves in my hands without resistance, so I can angle my next shot before I fire it. I quickly repeat this pattern until all Sharks in front of us are gone.

The _Gryphon_ jerks up suddenly, and I soon see a large Shark pass underneath us. I then see a few Cannon Crabs on nearby rocks, and shout a warning to Alice. I grip the nearby front mast as Alice maneuvers the _Gryphon_ around the Crab's shots. Only one shot gets through, on the left side of the deck.

I leap back to the lever for the depth charges, and release a load on the gun-wielding creatures before they can scuttle away. They blow apart, but my satisfaction vanishes when one of the Kraken's tentacles bursts up from the darker depths. It wraps around the _Gryphon's_ middle, and me.

I scream as the tentacle squeezes me against hard wood and slimy flesh. Every bone below my neck surges with pain. It's too tight for me to take a breath.

Then, the tentacle actually lets go. I take rapid breaths through my shattered chest. My vision tears up as I see a burn mark on the tentacle's side. _I_ inflicted a mark like that, earlier.

My fear turns into regret and anger; regret that I ever harmed the Kraken to begin with, and anger at the fact that this is how it got its revenge.

Our speed decreases to what feels like a crawl as wood bits break away from the ship. I stumble to the front cannon and prepare to fire, but all our foes are gone. The _Gryphon_ barely holds itself together as we sail into bright blue waters. I close my eyes and let my body recover from this trial…

…until a furry, wet paw clamps itself on my nose and mouth.

I sputter and sit up. The Cheshire Cat removes his paw, his ears flat against his head. Alice stands by him, all three of us in the lake of the nighttime Vale of Tears.

"For the record," the Cat says to me as I look around to make sure this isn't a trick of some sort, "revenge is a dish best served cold. You should have seen that attack coming."

"Sorry," I get out with a wheezy gasp. "I just didn't think the Kraken would strike back at that time."

I cough heavily after I say this; my chest feels like it's on fire, and every breath just fans the flames.

"Calm down," Alice says to me. "We made it through, and that's what matters. I think the Mock Turtle would be proud of us, despite the fact we almost wrecked the _HMS Gryphon_ a second time."

I fall silent with her as I recall what little I saw of the Mock Turtle. Despite all his sadness, he did seem like a well-trained admiral. If anything, his skill in steering the _Gryphon_ showed he had plenty of experience in navigating such a vessel.

"You two never cease to amaze." The Cat's words signal his departure. Two more Rose Paint vials float near us. Alice grabs them, and my spine tingles as Hysteria Alice chuckles in the breeze.

" _I see your fury, your hatred,_ " she taunts to us both. " _It's only a matter of time before you break. The Roses will be red soon…_ "

* * *

We emerge on a solid surface a bit further forward than where the Radula Room was. I feel my strength return, somehow, and I stand up as Alice moves through a small arch to another open space. A large bed rests in the center of this space, a few stone heads and strands of grass adding additional color to the area.

"The oysters must sleep here." Alice comments as she looks at the bed's thin covers. "We'll need to wake them up in order to get them to the stage."

Our chances of waking them up quickly fade away as we hear a loud series of _clacks_. We look to where they come from, and see three Cannon Crabs lined up at a higher rock space. The lead one chitters something to its companions, and they all light their cannons at the same time…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We go from one fight/small task, into another fight/small task. It just keeps on going, doesn't it?**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	19. The Pieces Come Together

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter of the story.**

 **Not much else to say, really, except that we are still in the Depths. I tried to structure this chapter's events into separate smaller scenes, and I hope it makes this easier to read.**

 **This chapter starts off right after the last one, and I'm sorry if this too jarring a transition.**

 **Now, let me give the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content. The author owns any custom elements they choose to introduce in the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The Cannon Crabs fire three shots simultaneously. I teleport out of the way, and crouch behind a rock that I reform by. The Crab's ranged power is too strong for me to get close enough to attack them. At least Alice is safe behind another rock.

The Crabs each light their cannons again, and they all turn to aim at where Alice is. The rock she is behind gets covered in smoke and bubbles from the bombardment. I want to run over and get her out of there, but my gut says she's still alive. But, I can't let her get shelled like this.

' _I hope I can distract them_.' I think as I try to think up a plan. ' _If it doesn't, we're both in deep shit._ '

Just as the Crabs launch another volley at Alice, I get an idea going. I run towards their elevated position, stone cracking beneath my feet. When I get close enough, I press my right foot against an angled stone and launch myself up, and above, the Crabs. They look at me with rapid chitters as I fly over them, and then land right behind them.

Up close, the Crab's cannons smell like burnt metal. Combined with their cigar smoke, it churns my stomach. Nevertheless, I continue with my plan. I summon the Ice Wand to my hands and channel its magic into something that, I hope, will stop all of them in their tracks.

I cry out, "Freeze!" as I release a green arc of ice from the Wand. The Crabs slow down to a literal crawl, but they don't freeze up like the Madcaps or Insidious Ruin did. A second later, one of the Crab's cannon-arms breaks apart from a barrage of pepper bullets. I take a quick breath and switch to the Automaton Hammer to bash the other Crab's limbs in.

Unfortunately, the center Crab shakes off the Wand's cold before I can reach it. It slams me against the wall with its pincer. Blood fills my nostrils as I teleport off the rock, into open air. I fall to the ground below, but the water dampens the impact.

I keep my mouth open to breathe as mist moves around my nose. The Crabs jump from the high ground; one almost lands right on top of me. I dodge that Crab's swing, and bash it onto its back with the Hammer. I then slam the Hammer into its soft stomach, and flick the power switch.

The Crab explodes into several pieces as its blood mixes with the surrounding water. I breathe in a bit of blood by accident, and even taste it. It's actually not that bad; if anything, it's a bit too smoky and burnt.

I turn to Alice. She's already wiped out one Crab, and has the other on its back. She slices the creature to pieces with the Vorpal Blade, and its entrails float up and away.

Alice turns to look at me. Her dress is covered in Crab blood and guts. She doesn't seem to care about that as she points behind me. I turn around to face the center bed, just as a large gray shell floats down onto it. The shell then opens to reveal a human-like creature with fishnet stockings, rich red hair, black ribbon in said hair, and pearls for eyes. The inner part of its shell has circles of various colors, like patterns on a dress.

"You've just interrupted my dreams," she says with a yawn, her voice a bit too rich for her size. "Oh, well. Off to the show, I suppose."

I shake my head as the oyster swims up and away, on the path to the Theatre.

We jump up the stone heads that are here, and walk through a small cave. The other side leads to a long path of the three colors of jellyfish we've seen so far. Large strands of ocean grass wave through the small space, which makes the clear path quite small for us.

* * *

We make quick progress, though Alice gets shocked once when she passes a little too close to a red jellyfish. Midway through a field of such jellyfish, I signal the location of a mounted Snout to Alice. She peppers it up, and slices open the breadbasket it leaves behind on a nearby white jellyfish.

She then spots a tentacle-covered seashell keyhole a short way further. We shrink down and go through it to reach a Radcliffe memory.

" _Odd indeed,_ " the doctor speaks to a past Alice as we move back through the keyhole and jump across a few more jellyfish. " _Unusual perhaps. But nearly nothing is unique, Alice. Yours was not the first brick home to be destroyed by fire._ "

"Under your watch, it won't be the last." Alice replies with another dark frown as we reach an open stone mouth. Alice smashes some nearby rusty chests for golden teeth, and I lead us through the mouth.

We end up in another open space, another bed in the center. Insidious Ruin and two Cannon Crabs crawl up, or rise from, the ground to challenge us.

"Stay back," Alice shouts to me as she cranks up the Grinder. "Don't get overwhelmed!"

I obey Alice's advice as I summon the Wand, and backpedal away from the scuttling Ruin. I fire bolt after bolt of ice as Alice grinds out pepper bullets at the Insidious, but they just get closer to us. They soon force us against a long curved wall. There's nowhere to run, or teleport, to safety.

I see the Crabs at the back light their cannons and take aim. Alice shouts out exactly what I think at that moment; "It's a trap!"

The Crabs fire, and we teleport right into the Insidious crowd to avoid the cannonballs. The smaller Ruin instantly surround us, and I press my back to Alice's. I hear Alice grunt in pain as I get swiped by several liquid arms. I stab one Ruin through with the Wand as I hear a _shiing_ of metal from Alice's side. The stabbed Ruin completely freezes up around the Wand.

I channel a burst of power into the Wand, and that Ruin explodes into icy shards. Some of these shards slam into nearby Ruin, which makes them stumble back. I swap to the Hammer and shout for Alice to, "Duck!"

I then make one long, looping swing. All the nearby Ruin get hit, and I end the swing with a final spin that blows one Ruin's body into chunks of goo.

Then, an explosion blows me off my feet. I land on my back as my ears roar with noise. Did a Cannon Crab just shoot at me? If so, I need to move before it can shoot at me again!

I roll to the side, and teleport to the leftmost wall, before I look back at the battle scene. Alice has moved up to a Crab, and I run toward the second one as it tries to light its cannon.

"Get away from her!" I shout as I leap into the air above the Crab. I flick the Hammer's power switch as I pound the Crab's shell, and the resulting explosion knocks me back through the air. When I regain my senses, the Hammer is out of my hands, the Crab's cannon-arm hangs limp, and there's a large crack in its shell. But, it's still alive.

Alice then strikes with a Hobby Horse-and-Vorpal Blade combo. She moves without pause between the two weapons, neither one slowing her down. The Crab dies before it can do anything. I take this moment to fetch the Hammer from among the grass where it landed, a bit away from where I hit the Crab.

I move beside Alice as the second oyster lands onto its bed, looking just the same as the last one. She intones in the exact same voice, "We still need the star! The star! The star!"

She then swims away, still shouting those same words. We look around, and spot another stone mouth that's now open. We walk through there, and come upon something completely different.

* * *

The oyster here is awake. She also looks different than the other ones; blond hair, blue hair-ribbon, and blue inner-shell patterns. Is she the 'star' the second oyster had mentioned?

"Help me, darlings," she says from her small clam-seat with heavy breaths. "This poster for the show, its ruined! If I can't put it back together, Carpenter will grind my bones!"

I look around, and notice four pieces that look like they fit into a large poster advertising the show. Some pieces are already inside the frame, but they seem out of place. A moment later, the pieces outside the frame vanish before my eyes. I look at the multiple paths that lead out of this area as the Cheshire Cat materializes by the poster frame.

"The proper order of things is often a mystery to me," he says. "You too?" I bite my lip when he doesn't give a clear task for us before he vanishes off again.

"I know what this is," Alice informs me, her eyes locked on the poster. "It's a puzzle. We need to get the missing pieces, and then slide the pieces around to make the correct image."

"Seems like a waste of time," I say with a wave of my hand at the poster. "Why does the Carpenter want us to do these simple tasks for him?"

"He's focused on the grander aspects of the show," Alice calmly states. "I don't know how long he's been arranging this, but impresarios like him only see the end results."

"Yes, yes," the oyster agrees with Alice. "He never stops speaking about how we will dazzle the audience with our performance. But, this poster must be done now! Please, help me!"

"We'll do what we can." Alice states before she turns to me. "You take the right side, and I'll take the left. We need to do this fast."

She moves to a path on an upper ledge before I can stop her. I shake my head at how silly this task is, but still go along with it. I jump up to a nearby ledge on my side, and a piece is right here. I touch it to pick it up, but it just vanishes again. I whirl back to the poster, and see it over there like it was before.

"Yes, good," the oyster excitedly states. "That's one piece! Now, find the rest of them!"

I jump down without a response, and take a careful look at this space's walls. I soon notice a seashell keyhole covered with tentacles. They vanish when I shrink down, and I run through the keyhole into a small space with another piece. This piece also vanishes when I touch it, and there's also a Snout mounted on the curved wall. I race back to the poster to find the second piece there, but Alice isn't back yet.

' _I hope she isn't in trouble,_ ' I muse as the seconds tick by without her return. The oyster starts tap-dancing on her shell-seat. Maybe she's nervous about the show? My gut says I should try to calm her down, but what do I say to someone like her? I don't know how a theater show works!

"Uh… say…" I awkwardly start out. "How long have you been practicing for this show?"

"Oh, it feels like forever! But, it's been so enlightening for me, as well." she responds as she wrings her very tiny hands together. Actually, do her arms even _have_ hands?

"You really think the show will go over well?" I ask. "The Carpenter's asking a lot of things for it."

I can't help but feel a bit more curious about all this show the more we work to complete it. The individual tasks don't seem like much, but they probably all work together in the big picture.

"Oh, I'm quite sure it'll go over amazingly! Barrelbottom needs a show like this to give it new life!" The oyster claps her… arms together in excitement at her potential stardom. I smile back, glad that she can be happy with her own fame.

At that moment, the third piece appears by the poster. A few seconds later, Alice reemerges from the same stone mouth. Her body is covered in teeth marks and Crab blood, which explains why she was gone for so long.

"Sorry 'bout that," she says with a straight face. "Had to quell some critics. Now, let's get the last piece."

I follow her silently as we move into a large stone opening. We reach a large open space of murky water, with jellyfish and invisible platforms. A Shrink Sense marking, as I see them, of Bumby's glasses leads to the left, while the marking of a Clockwork Bomb leads to the right. We take the left path, first.

* * *

After we walk up an invisible ramp, and break through a coral barrier, we reach a small cave with, amazingly, a Bumby memory inside. Alice touches it, and Bumby's familiar calm tone speaks briefly, but with importance: " _Keep troubles and torments at a distance where they may easily be forgotten._ "

' _Why does that make sense?_ ' I have no answer to my thought as we head back to the first platform, and then move to the right. We cross some more jellyfish, and then reach a pressure pad. I stand on it, and the mouth of a distant stone head opens up to reveal the last piece.

With me standing on the pad, Alice has enough time to navigate the apparently fast-moving platforms. She touches the piece, and it vanishes. We then move back to the main space, all the pieces gathered.

When we get back, the pieces are all inside the poster's border. However, only two spaces have the right piece in place. The rest are all placed in apparently random spots in the border.

"How does this work?" the oyster mutters, as nervous as when we first saw her. "Where do these pieces go?"

She joins the two of us in silence as we look over the mismatched pieces. I try to figure this out, but all my ideas fall apart after a few moves. Nevertheless, I take a chance by moving a piece down one space.

Alice comes in and quickly moves an adjacent piece to the left. I step back as I see my idea fall apart with that one action, but Alice continues without pause. She shifts a few pieces around, backtracks a step, and then snaps her fingers with a smirk.

She moves the pieces with quick pushes and pulls, like she's assembling some great machine. She doesn't take very long to complete it. The pieces all sink into the poster together, and I get to read the full description.

The title reads, " _TOTENTANTZ presents THE DANCE OF DEATH_ ", the 'O' replaced with a Snark skeleton. The Walrus fills the center of the poster, a frill around his neck, white braces that look like bones over his tusks, and sporting a small red cap atop his head. Three red emblems at the bottom show, from left to right, the octopus as the writer, the oysters as the performers, and the Carpenter as the director.

"Splendid!" The oyster shouts as a giant fish head nearby lowers its jaws for us to leave by. "Let us resume our place before our adoring fans at the Theatre." She then swims off with a final wave to us.

"Before we go," I say to Alice. "There's a Snout in a keyhole nearby where we first entered. You should get that." She nods and races off, which gives me a moment to think about how I really feel about this show.

We've actually done a lot since we got here. The amount of boxes and platforms inside the Theatre itself proves that people want to see this play. Maybe it won't be so bad, after all. Besides, I've never seen a show like this before; it could be a fun experience.

Alice's return scatters that train of thought, and we continue down the fish's mouth without any more delay.

* * *

The water here is especially dark. We walk across a thin stone bridge to reach a large metal gate that opens to a graveyard. The chasm we cross is deep enough that I can't see the bottom. Every other time I've seen a dark chasm down here, the Kraken's attacked anything nearby. Could it be waiting for the moment to strike me, and kill me?

We cross without worry, but we turn at the sound of something large approaching. The Carpenter rides the Walrus from the Theatre, who's already wearing what he has on in the poster. The Walrus swims over to us… and rams the stone bridge head-on. The bridge shatters into pieces, and the Walrus doesn't look harmed by his efforts.

"My gosh!" Alice declares, horrified at something I don't yet understand. "You're not an impresario, you're a killer! The mastermind of a criminal enterprise!"

"This world's not so either/or, Alice," the Carpenter replies as he looks over one of his large hands. I stay silent and listen to this banter.

"And we've done your bidding!" Alice's accusations continue as the Walrus swims in place and I try to follow the conversation.

"You did a few errands, got your hands dirty. Big deal. The show distracu-lates the crowd, a shame you'll miss it. You two need to deal with these sailors." He then points to the graveyard behind us with the words, "It's your time."

"Time? Time?" The walrus suddenly speaks up, his voice deep and rich. Then, he starts speaking in rhyme as his body begins to wave about with gusto...

" _The time has come to talk of many things:  
Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax,  
Of cabbages and kings—  
And why the sea is boiling hot,  
And whether pigs have wings!_"

"Enough of that, Walrus!" The Carpenter shouts this as he barely holds onto the wiggling creature. "You start wailing about how there's too much sand on the beach, I'll have your blubber for breakfast!"

That shuts the Walrus up, his brown eyes now wide as he looks back to the man riding him. Did the Walrus almost say something he shouldn't have?

Wait a minute! Carpenter just said something about a beach. Alice had said she'd read a poem involving a Carpenter, a Walrus, and a group of oysters all walking on a beach. It also didn't end well for anyone involved. I recall the images that I had imagined, of oysters being killed. Is that going to happen with _this_ Carpenter, and _this_ Walrus?

If that's so, then these two are really...!

"Monsters!" I shout this in furious anger as the mystery solves itself in my mind. "Beasts! Killers! Deluded-Depth-defilers!"

The Walrus reels back in surprise at my tone; the Carpenter digs his hands into its fat stomach to stay on.

"I see your game, now," I continue with a few steps forward. "You plan to kill those oysters, those innocent performers in your mirth-filled 'Dance of Death'. Those creatures didn't do a thing to you, and you want them dead! Is that really what an impresario would do?"

"The impresario does what the crowd wants, silly boy!" The Carpenter's shout equals mine in volume and anger. "If they want tragedy, I give it. If they want happiness, I give it. If they want mirth and debauchery, who am I to deny them the delicacy of an electrifying, daredevil, fantastic-ulating dance?! It's show business!"

"Shame on you, all the same," Alice retorts to the red-haired giant as she steps beside me. "You made a promise to us!"

"I had no choice," he spits back. "One can't always do as one would like. I would have thought you, of all people, would know that by now." He then taps the Walrus's head with his hand, and the two swim away, free to commit their crime.

* * *

We turn into the graveyard, and the gate slams shut behind us. Then, a large ghostly man with the same appearance as the Lost Souls rises from in front of one of the many stone slabs. This man is larger than those Souls, his eyes a darker blue against his near-invisible body.

"A Drowned Sailor." Alice states. "Veterans in life, now doomed to haunt the seas as ghosts."

She doesn't get any further before the Sailor dives into the ground and charges towards us from below. A scattering of the surface above him is the only clue we get to his approach.

The Sailor bursts up in front of me; dust fills my eyes as something long and sharp slashes across my chest. I cry out as I stumble back, the pain too strong to focus on anything else. I lower my hands as my eyes tear up, and see the now-solid Sailor head-on. He holds a serrated knife in one hand, the source of my pain.

The Sailor grunts as pepper bullets hit its arms and chest. After a few moments, it returns to its transparent state. It then moves towards Alice, and I wipe my tears away. Alice teleports around the graveyard, lures the Sailor away from me. The Sailor draws bombs like the Lost Souls did but Alice just peppers them until they explode. Just like the Lost Souls, the bombs stun the Sailor when they explode in his hands.

Alice teleports forward, and gets in a few slashes with the Vorpal Blade, but turns back to his ghostly state before he dies. I teleport over, and summon the Ice Wand, as Alice avoids its lunge. The sailor turns to face her, which gives me a moment to fire an ice bolt. The bolt misses, but it gets the Sailor's attention. Its blue eyes lock on me as it growls something I can't understand.

Then, the Vorpal Blade lops off its head. Black blood flows into the water as the Sailor's body, and severed head, sink to the ground. My stomach twists a bit as I see the blood leak out. I manage to swallow the bile down as I see another black gate at the graveyard's back end open up.

"You'll be fine," Alice says to me as she passes by me to a Snout at the back end of one of the stone slabs. A large stone slab slides into the ground after she peppers it up. I follow her into the keyhole, and we find a Dr. Wilson memory among some teeth.

" _Pets are friends, and our secret selves, Alice,_ " he says with the same tone as every other of Alice's memories of him. " _Your rabbit, too. I'm sure Dinah was a confidant. Always about, wasn't she?_ "

I suspect the rabbit, and this 'Dinah', were animals Alice kept before her family died. Are they dead, too? I do recall Pris said something about Alice's rabbit, but the only animals Pris had were those pigeons. Maybe someone else in London has them?

We move back through the keyhole, and then through the gate. We pass a few more stone slabs, but these ones have large crosses on them. We also pass by stones that have a strange white substance on them. I don't want to touch it, for fear of it never coming off my hands.

Alice sharply turns to the right, and I see a small coral barrier we almost passed by. I follow her in, and we enter a smaller section of the graveyard. An anchor-fish swims away upon our arrival, its blue eye looking at us as Alice smashes open chests and what look like spiked shells to collect teeth and rose petals. I help her out, and we go through another gate… back into the first graveyard!

"Well," I angrily blurt out. "This was a _great_ use of our time. Totally worth it!"

"Oh, shut up," Alice snaps back. We move through the path we already took, and walk into an area with a large black mark along the ground. It almost looks like a burn mark, but we ignore it as we see what's in the next graveyard.

* * *

One central grave is here, fenced off on three sides and with a small throne above it. Other graves, marked with the same stone slabs as earlier, rest to the sides. The gate shuts behind us as another Drowned Sailor rises from the special grave. Alice moves to take care of it while I teleport to the side.

A loud hiss makes me jump, and then cry out as sharp teeth gnaw into my back. I teleport away, and turn back around to see a total of three Snarks now in the graveyard. These fishes were waiting for us!

"Snarks," I shout to Alice as she peppers the Sailor's bombs while it holds them. "I'll take care of them!"

I then run, and teleport, over to the Snark closet to Alice and whack it with the Hammer. It burrows underground, but I just bash it back up, and then burst its head open with an exploding swing.

I try to stay focused as the other Snarks move in different directions. Both of them stare me down, and I teleport to the closest one. It releases its icy breath before I can swing, and I feel the familiar cold rise up my body. I switch over to the Ice Wand, my hands shaky as I teleport away. I then fire a few ice bolts at the Snark, but it just burrows underground.

The second Snark lunges at me, and I barely block its attack with the Wand. It's teeth scratch along the weapon, and my hands, as I hold it back. It then falls back, and I shoot a cone of cold into its body. I then take the chance to smash frozen Snark to bits.

I hear the Drowned Sailor cry out in pain. This gives me the confidence to teleport over to the burrowing Snark. I pound its lure, and it pops up from the ground. I quickly slam it against a stone slab with another swing. The slab shatters, but I keep pounding until the Snark turns into blood, teeth, and bits of flesh.

The scent of Snark blood quickly makes my stomach churn. I move away and rejoin Alice, who is in front of the special grave. White mist trails along my arm, and I also feel its soothing touch on my back.

"Friend or foe?" A whispery voice asks this from the special grave. A ghostly sailor with a more lavish hat, longer beard, and white eyes rises from the soil. He quickly floats like a living person would stand.

"That depends on whether you try to harm us," I reply as I raise the Hammer for a swing.

"Stop it, Kyle," Alice says with that intimidating glare of hers. "That's the Sailor Captain. Show him some respect."

"Please, Alice," the Captain says as I begrudgingly lower the Hammer to my side. "Help me fulfill my pledge. I need my men! They may be hostile at first, but their true souls are trapped. You must release them."

"Do they want to be at peace?" Alice asks this after a moment's thought. Considering how the sailors we've fought already all wanted us dead, I'd say no.

"They do not know their own minds," the Captain replies. "What's true of the living is often true of the dead."

A large gate shaped like a skull at the back end of the area opens up for us, and I follow Alice over there. When I try to enter the gate behind Alice, something pushes me back. I blink, and try again; the same thing happens. I now run into the open gate, but a group of spectral hands grab me and throw me back a few feet. I land with a grunt of annoyance.

"Hey, Captain," I shout over to the ghostly man as I try to keep my anger down. "You have any idea what this bullshit is?"

"My crew hold a strict sense of honor, even if they're currently insane," he replies. "It could be that they think you're too dishonorable to help them."

"Dishonorable?" I scream this as I stand back up. "What the fuck makes them think I'm dishonorable?! They've tried to _kill us_ , damn it! I don't care if they've lost their heads, they started all this, and they deserve to be punished for it!"

"No, Kyle." Alice calls this from beyond the gate, at the entrance of one of three brown buildings with skulls on them. "What they need is forgiveness. Sailors live rough lives out at sea, away from homes and families. They die with no one they love nearby, and that can drive any soul to madness. I speak from experience."

"But, Alice," I respond as I point at the three buildings. "You're going in those alone. You don't know what's in there, and you won't have me to help you get through it!"

"Calm down, lad," the Captain speaks up. "I knew Alice when I was alive, and she was just a girl. She's more than capable of fetching my crew on her own."

"But, I… you… she…" I sputter out, before I just moan in defeat and slump to the ground. When I look up to Alice, she's already gone…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now.**

 **As usual, please review, comment, and constructively criticize as you wish. Your feedback is well appreciated!**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	20. A Show Unlike Any Other

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter. The 20th chapter, in fact! We've come so far, and yet there's still a long way to go. I hope you all will stay interested until the end comes.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series is owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the chapter!**

* * *

Anger clashes with failure and regret in my head as I sit by the central 'tombstone', as the Sailor Captain calls it. I press my back against the gate and stare at the ocean above us. The Sailor Captain floats within the boundaries of the grave. Neither of us say a word for a long while.

The Captain breaks the silence when he turns to what he calls the 'crypts' and says, "That's it, that's it! Good girl!"

I look over to see Alice step out of the first crypt. She moves to the second one without pause, and the graveyard falls silent again.

"Don't be so downhearted," the Captain eventually speaks up. "I'm sure Alice is doing fine on her own."

"I know," I reply as I look at an anchor-fish that swims above the graveyard. "But, we've already been through so much together. Hell, I've probably fought through as much in these Depths as she has."

"Really?" The Captain sounds intrigued as I stand up from by the grave. "Care to tell a dead man your tales?"

I look at him in confusion. Is he actually interested, or just wanting me to talk so we don't stay silent? Eh, I guess I can tell him what I've faced so far.

I tell of the lustful mermaid with the ice-cold wand, the deadly Kraken that's follows me around, and the tantalizing turtle-chest I helped swim again. The Captain floats silently and listens to my every word. When I finally finish, he gives me a warm smile. Well, as warm as a dead man's ghost can give.

"You'd fit well with my crew while they were alive," he compliments. "They could use a stout-hearted fighter like you. But," he says with a downtrodden glance at his grave. "My men aren't thinking straight right now. Ever since they died, they've focused on what they had and lost."

"You think you're any different than them?" I cross my arms over my chest as I ask this. The strands on my elbows ripple in some unseen current as I explain, "You're as dead as they are."

"A captain needs to plan ahead for his crew to survive But," he adds with a sad smile, "I can't predict the future. I didn't know when I'd die, only that it would happen at some point. I can't go back and change it."

"But, your crew think they can change the past? That's why they're trying to kill us?"

"They hunt any living thing that comes by here. They want to feel alive again, but I think they'll feel just as much joy when they sail into the afterlife."

The second crypt opens at that moment. The Captain turns to there and says, "Hurry along, Alice." Alice doesn't seem to hear us as she moves to the final crypt without a glance at us.

"Listen," I say to the Captain after the crypt door closes. "I just want to make sure Alice survives here. I've seen her skill, I know this is her place, but she can't be everywhere at once."

"I understand," the Captain replies with a slow sigh. "I felt just as powerful when I commanded a ship on the stormy seas. Now, I have wisdom to help me, and my reunited crew, wherever we choose to go. A captain chooses their crew carefully, and Alice is like a captain to us. If she thinks you've helped her, then she trusts you to watch her back."

Is that really true, though? Has she thought that way all the times I've fought with her, and all the times she's helped me with my emotions and memories? Maybe we've helped each other in different ways? Then again, all I've really done with Alice is follow her around in the hopes that she'll help _me_ recover my memories.

What do I need to give to her in return for that?

"Ah," the Captain suddenly says as I hear voices mutter all around us. "She's done it! My crew have returned!"

He flies off to another gate where a large ship lies, its frame mostly intact. Three spectral men, with the same look and some of the same clothing as the Captain, appear beside him with happy grins.

Alice runs over to me as the men pat each other's backs, give each other hugs that I'm sure would crush bone, and laugh uproariously at the apparent joy of being back together. Their happiness makes me smile with them.

"Many thanks, Alice and Kyle," the Captain finally says as the crew turn to face us. "Be as good to yourselves as you've been to us." He then looks to his crew as he shouts, "Haul anchor and heave to, men! It's the wide and glorious main for us!"

The crew shout in agreement, and all four float off to the ship. The gate closes behind them. I bask in the afterglow of their departure until Alice starts to walk away. I follow her, since our journey isn't over yet.

Alice finds a Liddel memory through another keyhole beyond the crew's broken ship. Arthur Liddel speaks about a topic very similar to our recent actions: " _Whoever destroys a soul, destroys the world. There is much wisdom in that, Alice._ "

I silently agree with Arthur as we move through another skull-shaped gate, collect a few teeth behind a coral barrier, and then take a blue mushroom spring into a white light.

* * *

The light fades as we land on a large stone slab. Fish skeletons are inside the slab, and a long slide with branching paths of scaly skin trail past other fish skeletons. As usual, Alice takes the lead down, and I take the path that she doesn't. I have to jump early on to cross a sudden gap in the slide, and there are more Ruin patches along my route

Several points on my path have turns without supporting rails. I press my butt against the scaled skin to slow down at these points, and smash a few shells along the way to grab at the teeth. Like with Tundraful's slide, the teeth stick to my body as I collect them.

I meet Alice as our paths join together through a giant skeletal fish's mouth. We both land on solid stone, and I drop my teeth for Alice to absorb. At the same moment, a new Ruin creature emerges from a large pool of the black tar. This monster towers over us and doesn't look the least bit human.

Four doll arms act as its feet, while four small white arms surround its liquid mouth. A pair of large wheels slowly turn as they hold this thing's head in place. Black smoke spurts from the many pipes on its back. Multiple doll masks appear along the monster's sides as it roars at us. The sound shakes the cave walls, and dislodges a few bones from the nearby skeletons.

I teleport away from this beast as it lumbers towards us with smaller arms outstretched. Its mouth opens and closes like it's chewing the air, and its legs move it nearly as fast as the Menacing Ruin. Alice starts shooting pepper at one of the faces while running, but that doesn't slow this thing down a bit.

I take a risk and teleport close to the creature. I summon the Ice Wand, and fire an ice bolt at another doll-face. The face freezes up, but the creature quickly grabs me with its mouth-arms. Ruin fills my ears, nose, and mouth as the beast leans back and tries to _swallow me whole_!

I kick, struggle, scream, anything to get out of this thing's mouth. I feel the Ruin around me shift and crush me in different places. There's nothing solid to grab onto.

Suddenly, the Ruin spits me back out onto the ground. I keep my eyes closed and reach around with my hands. My fingers grasp the Ice Wand. It's chill snaps me into focus. I grab it, and teleport over and over in a random direction. When I stop and open my eyes, I'm fully across the cave from the thing. It's going after Alice.

Alice can't run fast enough to avoid the monster's arms. I stare in shock as the Ruin forces Alice's head and upper body into its mouth, leans its head back, and shakes back and forth. Alice's legs kick wildly as I hear her muffled scream. The Ruin undulates three times before it spits Alice back out. Liquid Ruin covers her upper body, a soaked Pepper Grinder still in her hands.

I force my eyes away from Alice, and to the creature. I switch the Hammer to 'RM' and line up a shot. I release the shot at maximum charge, and it blows up one of the doll-faces on its own. The beast turns to face me, and then spits a burning doll head at me. The head is twice the size of the Hammer's shots. I run out of its way, and the explosion almost knocks me off my feet.

I fire another Hammer shot when I get the chance, and another face almost breaks apart from the impact. Alice finishes that face off with the Grinder; two faces remain. We move to opposite sides of the cave and bombard the creature. It fires more burning doll heads at whoever gets closer to it.

Alice's Umbrella isn't able to deflect these burning heads back at the creature, just absorb their explosive power. I switch over to the Ice Wand after Alice has to run for safety, and launch several ice bolts in quick succession. This slows the creature down, but just for a moment. It shambles at me, and I teleport away before I fire even more bolts into the liquid skin.

After much more dodging, bombarding, and freezing, Alice's pepper bullets break apart the final doll-face. The Ruin roars again at us, and then burrows into the ground like a huge Ice Snark. I catch its small arms digging a path for itself, and the hole it leaves behind is large enough to drop a Menacing Ruin inside.

* * *

I slump to the cave floor as white mist soothes my wounds. Alice collects a few rose petals and teeth that the massive Ruin's leftover bits had. I stand up when I can feel my limbs again. Alice looks just as tired as I am.

"That thing was unlike any Ruin before it, "I note to Alice as we smash a Ruin-covered exit to move forward. "What if it was made in response to our recent successes?"

"I won't dismiss that theory," she replies as we move out into what looks like the back end of Barrelbottom. "But, we shouldn't let that—"

We both stop short at the sight of blood on the ground. Alice's sentence hangs unfinished as we see the aftermath of some kind of massacre. Fish-men and fish-women wave above the ground, held in place by large metal hooks that go through their mouths. A trail of blood goes through an open door. I see bodies upon bodies of fish-people inside, stacked on each other like trash.

"Oh, _fuck_ ," I manage to say as bile coats my throat. "What happened here?"

Alice doesn't say anything, but her eyes squint like she's looking for something. She shrinks down and looks into the blood-soaked room. She then turns to the right, and grows back up with a focused expression. What is she trying to see beyond all this death?

"There's an invisible Snout inside that room," she says with a gesture to the inner room. "But, there's also a keyhole to the right. Let's go to the keyhole, first." I nod, not trusting my mouth to keep my stomach's contents where they should be.

We enter the keyhole Alice talked about, and she peppers a switch inside a small space filled with black coral. That opens up the door to a Radula Room, and we ride an invisible platform up to it. We don't waste any time going inside.

* * *

We arrive back in the Hatter-vortex, and the rabbit states the same thing as before. However, the Hatter's declaration is different: "Kill or be killed!"

Those words are challenged by three Eyepots, and a Menacing Ruin, as they emerge onto the large table. I summon the Hammer as Alice readies the Grinder, and we both attack the foe closest to us.

I knock the Eyepot in front of me to the ground, but it quickly back up with a cracked 'eye'. I teleport back to avoid its sharp legs, and feel another Eyepot stab me in the shoulder. I whirl the Hammer around in a spinning loop, which makes them both scuttle back. I then teleport to the wounded Eyepot and kill it with a few more blows to the 'eye'. It doesn't drop any teeth or rose petals.

I freeze for a moment, and then teleport until I reach an unoccupied space of the table. I look to my shoulder in disbelief. Blood seeps out of a gash that digs into the skin. There's no sign of that white mist, no sense of relief from the pain.

The Hatter's words come back to me; 'Kill or be killed'. So, we have to kill every foe here, or die trying. That's just _great_.

Boiling tea splatters on my skin. I get out some kind of cry as my anger against these walking teapots returns. I switch the Hammer to 'RM', and launch a close-range shot at a scuttling Eyepot. The shot stuns it, but I also stumble back from the blast force.

I switch to the Ice Wand and give the weakened Eyepot several bolts of Tundraful's cold. The Eyepot's 'eye' turns icy-blue after the first bolt, and then shatters after a few more. The frame falls over, the creature dead. I turn to Alice, worried she's having trouble of her own.

I'm sort of right; Alice has already killed the third Eyepot, but the Menacing Ruin stays up in her face. Fire constantly streams out of its back, fueling its swipes and lunges.

I teleport over to Alice's position, concentrating on the Wand's energy. When the Menace leans back for another swipe, I fire a sphere of ice right into its doll-faces. It cries out as those faces turn blue, and it raises its arms for defense. Alice switches over to the Hobby Horse and bashes the Menace's arms back with a powerful swing. She then pulls the Horse into a second swing that knocks a face right off. The Horse vanishes in place of the Vorpal Blade, and Alice makes a five-slash combo that pushes the Menace back even further.

I fire ice bolts whenever the Menace tries to charge at Alice. We knock the other two faces off quickly, and the abomination moans as it melts back into the table's wood. We've won.

Wait...

No we haven't won. Three more Eyepots, and one more Menacing Ruin, are on the opposite end of the table. It's like they never died at all.

My strength seeps out of my legs at the thought of doing all this over again. We fought so hard, and it didn't matter at all.

"Kyle!" Alice's shout makes me jump, and I turn to her as she readies the Grinder again.

"Don't give up on me," she orders. "Kill or be killed; that's the rule here. Keep fighting, and we'll win. Trust me!"

She then fires at the closest Eyepot as those golden machines charge up their own ranged attacks. The targeted Eyepot gets stunned, but the other Eyepots fire hot tea that splatters over me. My skin burns, and it won't be healed up.

If I don't fight, I'll die.

I cry out in anger at these broken rules, and run towards the stunned Eyepot. I stab the Wand's orb right into its cracked 'eye'. My arms feel like lead as a large burst of cold flows through them, and out the Wand. The Eyepot freezes up, and then explodes into shards of frozen metal. I feel a few things scratch my face, and something sharp slam into my chest.

I switch to the Hammer and spin in place with wild strength. One Eyepot gets knocked back as I slow myself down. The Menace then knocks _me_ back with its giant fist. Alice appears in front of me through a cloud of blue butterflies, and she quickly slices into the Ruin's faces with the Blade. I get back up, and charge into the fray.

I don't care about the numbers, strength, or skill of my enemies. Alice is right; we must kill, or be killed, and I will _not_ die here!

* * *

Gone. They're all gone.

My chest heaves as I take ragged breaths. My heartbeat pulses with the pain of several cuts, gashes, and scars I don't remember receiving. Blood pours onto the wood below me, little rivulets and streams of my life force that join together at my feet in some convoluted mess. Ruin sticks to my hands, and the Automaton Hammer, but it melts off as I take a few slow, careful steps.

I look for Alice, but she's already standing up. Her hair sticks to parts of her face. The red blood that flows from her body is a stark contrast to her dress's bright colors. She clutches a blood-stained Hobby Horse with shaky hands, the weapon's eyes wide and glowing. It _has_ to be alive, I'm sure of it.

When Alice brushes the hair out of her deathly-pale face, I see a bruise on her left cheek with a black ring around her left eye. The Menace must have dealt her a savage punch before it fell. Which of us killed it?

Doesn't matter. We've won, and killed all the enemies. Those were the rules.

"Come now, Alice, don't dawdle," the rabbit says to us. "You've already missed the train!"

Two more Rose Paint vials appear next to us, and Alice slowly walks over to touch them. She lets out a shaky sigh as I see her cuts cover themselves up. Her face regains its glow, and the marks on her eye and cheek fade away from view.

" _Yes, yes,_ " Hysteria cheers as my vision fades to black. " _Gorge your hatred. Embrace your rage. Paint them all red!_ "

* * *

I gasp with joy as I feel mist flow over my wounds. I bask in its touch, and let my other senses fade for a few moments.

When I let myself come back to reality, Alice isn't in the cave. A blush comes to my cheeks as I imagine how I must have looked just now. Alice probably wanted to leave me alone, that's it.

I leap across the invisible platforms to join Alice outside. She peppers something inside the room full of fish-people carcasses.

Oh, yeah. _That_ room. In the face of fighting for my life, I'd completely forgotten about all this death.

The bile from before tickles my throat. I swallow it down as I heave like I'm about to vomit. Alice pats me on the back after she finishes peppering whatever she was inside the room.

"Are you alright?" she asks as she rubs her hand along my back. "I know real carnage like this is disgusting. I felt the same way the first time I committed a violent act. You've just got to bear it."

I slowly nod. Happy thoughts, think happy thoughts...

"Alright," I say after several moments, "lead the way."

Alice does so. I cover my nose and mouth with a hand, and force myself to look at the bodies. No care was given to their placement. Some more fish-people hang on hooks that connect to the room's ceiling. I wonder if these corpse's smell can reach the next floor of this building. Has anyone checked this out?

I notice Alice look hard at something; it turns out to be the Cheshire Cat sitting atop one of the corpse piles. Doesn't he care about blood on his fur, or paws?

"Every picture tells a story," he speaks without much emotion. "Sometimes, we don't like the ending. Sometimes, we don't understand it."

He vanishes after that. Alice moves to a toadstool spring to grab something on a higher ledge. I just walk around the room and take in the many different ways a fish-person can die.

Some of the bodies have cuts and gashes, while others have gaping holes in their chests. Some smaller fish-people are nailed to the walls by their limbs. A few heads rest by headless bodies, the separation not a clean one. The hanging bodies sway ever so slightly to my eye. It's quite creepy, and I have to force myself to look away.

The largest of these hanging bodies, a male, wears a fancy, blood-soaked suit. He has the shell of a creature I don't recognize for a head. A hook holds him aloft by the back of his neck, and comes out through his throat. Maybe his body will eventually break apart from his head and fall to the floor, since the hook is angled back up to the ceiling.

Suddenly, I see his hands twitch. Then, his head moves back and forth. My jaw drops as his eye wiggles around. He's still alive!

"A…Alice!" My voice sounds hoarse to my ears, but it's the best call I can make right now.

Alice comes over quickly, and gasps slightly when she sees what's got my attention.

"Sir," I slowly say as I lower my hand and walk up to the wriggling corpse. "Please, tell us who did this to you."

The fish-man slowly, painfully, raises its fin to a ramp that leads to the room above us. Then, he gurgles up blood from his mouth, and slumps more onto the hook. I instantly know he's dead.

I grind my teeth in anger. If that Carpenter's up there, I will break his bones like he broke these bodies!

"Let's go," I say to Alice, and she follows me as I stride up the wooden path and to the upper floor.

I stop short as I see the fancy walls and carpeted floors of the Dreary Lane Theatre. All the doors on either wall are shut tight. The air is strangely quiet.

"The show may be over," Alice says as she walks past me. "Or, it could be just about to begin. We'll find out once we get over there."

"Then, we can destroy that bastard Carpenter, and his fat walrus pet." I clench my fists as I say this, but Alice's glare is stronger than my anger.

"Brute force won't work here, Kyle," she lectures me. "I don't want any more people in danger. Who knows how those two will react if we just up and attack them?"

I punch a wall in frustration—Alice's words make sense, but I don't want to hear them. I shake the pain out of my fist, and follow Alice down the halls until we reach the entrance to the Theatre's stage.

The octopus and the singing bottle-fish are here, and I can hear mutterings of conversation from inside.

"'Art and good sense be damned', right?" I ask the octopus. Why he would want to see a play that he didn't seem to like when he told us about it?

"We'll see how this play plays out," he replies with a roll of his eyes. "You two had better find some seats, the show's 'bout to begin. We'll come in once the show starts."

I follow Alice into the show room with one last glance to the two sea creatures.

* * *

All the rows of seats are packed with fish-men and women. They all mutter quietly to each other, their combined words a white noise in my ears. Alice and I try to find a place that's unoccupied. The curtains are pulled back to show a painting of Tundraful's smoking moon with a few stars. The stage is filled with light against the rest of the area.

"Ladies and gentlemen…" the Carpenter calls out from behind the stage as we come to the front row. Alice stops me from trying to find a seat as the Carpenter leaps out with an enthusiastic greeting. His face is all smiles and delight as he shouts, "Welcome to the shoooooooooow!"

Music blares into life as the Carpenter bows out and waves to the stage's right. The oyster singers, more than the three Alice and I woke up, file before us in some kind of synchronized dance. The crowd cheers and claps as the Carpenter takes a seat beside where Alice stands. It takes a huge amount of self-control for me to not punch the smug smile he wears inside out.

Alice, amazingly, just raises an eyebrow at the singers and comments, "Rather bizarre show…"

The Carpenter delicately claps his hands as the lead oyster moves to center stage and twirls before the crowd. She gets a great amount of applause for this, which spurs her to open her arms out as she looks to the stage. She's probably about to sing.

All that comes out of her mouth is a scream as, to my shock, the Walrus drops on top of her. His blubber-filled belly instantly crushes the tiny woman. The Walrus still has the frill and hat on, but he now also wears a human skull-mask, and holds a huge scythe in one of his flippers.

The audience falls into a shocked silence as the oysters tremble in fear from 'Death' landing before them.

"That's quite enough of that!" the Walrus states to everyone. "Enough preliminaries. Here's the performance you've been waiting for; proves I'm without prejudice and have a fine sense of humor."

A jingle-filled tune starts up as the surviving oysters scamper off stage. A black curtain falls over the back image as large replicas of tombstones with swords and crowns engraved on them are lowered from the ceiling. The oysters walk onstage while holding more of the replicas, but I keep my eyes on the Walrus.

He recites a new poem before the silent audience, one that sends a chill through me...

" _Sword and crown are worthless here,  
I invite everyone to dance.  
Laborers, lawyers, church and gown  
All make their little prance._

 _This life is full of random death,  
And heaps of grief and shame.  
So few are soothed by 'accident';  
You want someone to blame._

 _Fire, plague, and strange disease;  
Drowned, murdered, or, if you please,  
A long fall down the basement stairs;  
None are expected, no one cares._

 _I must often work very hard,  
Sweat running down my skin.  
After the dance, I then must rest,  
And the eating can begin._"

The Walrus rips off his mask as he then shouts, "Time to eat! Death is the ultimate equalizer. All have the right to be eaten."

In the space of a second, he grabs the closest oyster, tosses her into the air, and bites her screaming head off with his tusks. Oyster blood splatters across the Walrus's mouth, neck, and all over the stage.

Screams of fear from tens of voices in the audience meld together into a cacophony that reminds me all too much of my London nightmares. I turn to the door to try and help get out, but a few fish-people are already there. The doors are closed tight; the fish-people tug on the handles, but they don't budge.

"Get in line, creatures!" The Carpenter's voice rises above the pandemonium, a large black cloak now over his upper body. "All will be served… so to speak."

"Wicked thing!" Alice shouts this at Carpenter as she points to the Walrus. "Feasting while Wonderland is destroyed!"

The creature is now on his side, all the oyster performers trapped between his flippers. He eats them one at a time, a wide smile on his face.

"I am not the enemy you seek, Alice," the Carpenter says with a raised hand. "I tried to hide this bit of Wonderland from that beast! Appeasement's never clean. We must all play our assigned roles."

"That doesn't excuse the fact you're killing innocent people," I shout back. "We saw the bodies below! We know what you've done!"

The Carpenter frowns at me before he answers: "The upkeep of a few lost souls is worth it to subjugate the masses into a content state of mind. Otherwise, progress grinds to a halt at the first question of rightful authority!"

He then looks between me and Alice, and cuts my response off with more questions.

"Are you two pawns or queens? Idiots or practiced fools? However this turns out, consider the prospect that the both of you have been misled. Then ask, 'by whom'?"

A loud _rumble_ makes me look to the Theatre's door just before it is pulled off it's hinges into a vortex of orange, black, and red fire. A familiar shrieking whistle makes my heart drop into my stomach. The fish-people run with bugged eyes and shrieking voices as the vortex's heat invades the Theater.

The Infernal Train is here.

"Oh, no," Alice gasps out in terror. "Who set that bloody train in motion? Where's it come from?!"

"It arrived when you arrived," the Carpenter shouts as the Theatre starts to break apart around us. "And it's more horrible than even you can currently imagine!"

He jumps in front of us with hands raised, as if shielding his show from the oncoming destruction. It's not going to work, of course; the Train is too powerful for one man to stop.

"The death of a dream!" His voice barely reaches my ears against the ever-growing noise and fire the Infernal Train belches out from itself. "Caterpillar may know how!"

I grab Alice's hand as everything falls into a whirling torrent of roaring fire and churning water…

* * *

 **And that's all for now!**

 **As usual, all reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated. Again, I do hope you are all enjoying the story so far.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	21. Only Doom Awaits Us

**Hello, readers! I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving (since Thanksgiving was last week, at the time this chapter is being posted).**

 **Not much else to say, really. I just hope you are still enjoying the story. We're moving into a new area of Wonderland, but this chapter also has some... emotional... things. You'll figure it out in the chapter itself.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not introduced in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I open my eyes, and see gray. I blink several times, and then double over as blood dribbles from my mouth onto the surface below me. That surface is a darker brown, and my blood turns it black. A terrible taste is in my mouth, even though I didn't eat anything in the Deluded Depths, or Tundraful.

I raise my head up, and hear a rhythmic _clop-clop_ on stone in front of me. I turn that way to see a man in black riding what my mind calls a 'horse'. I look down as my vision clears up. I'm on a wooden cart that connects to the horse. I'm also in my London clothes, again. Alice is next to me, along with Nan Sharpe. Sharpe looks behind us with a sad expression.

I do the same, and my jaw drops as I see the "Mangled Mermaid" on fire. Some people rush to try and put out the blaze with buckets of water, while others just stare at the flames as they lick through the windows. The walls turn orange and black, and I don't think the building will stand for much longer.

Then, I remember who started the fire. My fists clench as the face and oily voice of Jack Splatter come back to me. I feel nothing but anger against that man, that 'cockersnipe'.

"Ugh, what?" I hear Alice with a few coughs. "The blood in my mouth tastes like bile!" She glances at me, and then looks up to Nan Sharpe as she asks, "Where's the brute that hit us, Nanny?"

"Nasty prat's out cold," the large-breasted woman replies with a blink of her blackened eyes. "Not dead, and more's the pity."

I look away from Alice as she asks, "What did he want?"

"What they all want," Nan responds. "Money he didn't earn. What were you thinking, butting into that mess? You could have been killed!"

"Nanny, my mind is in pieces. I have terrible visions, and I need to know—!"

"About the fire." Nan's voice is weary, like she's said this many times already. "Same as always. You need to move on, Alice, and so do I."

"She did the right thing," I cut in. "You were in danger, and Alice wanted to help. What's wrong with that?"

Nan turns to me with a slight frown, and I almost flinch under the look she gives me.

"Splatter called you an 'accomplice'," she states, probably to change the subject. "What did he mean by that?"

"I have no connection to that damnable crook," I quickly reply with a determined tone. "The last time we met was when I first came to London, before I ever met with Alice. We crossed paths, and he used me to escape some cops that were on his tail. They wanted to catch him by surprise. They got me, instead; that's why he asked why I'd gotten out of gaol so quickly."

"Who hasn't had some time in gaol these days?" Nan's tone turns calm as she looks away from me. "I hear some homeless blighters choose to spend time in cells just to have a place to sleep. A miserable state, but it's the only chance they've got. Now," she continues as she turns back to me. "Let's move to a lighter topic. How do you know Alice?"

"Kyle and I met at Houndsditch," Alice replies before I can. "He's the newest person there, and he's lost all memory of his past before he came to London."

"Poor dear," Nan says to me, and she certainly look sympathetic. "However, your case isn't all that unusual around here. This city is one many people would like to forget about."

' _Don't I know it,_ ' I think as we sit in silence. The cart moves through the more densely-populated areas of London, which lets me observe the different people and buildings of this area. A bright morning sun pierces through gray clouds. Several silent minutes pass as the three of us just sit and look around at a new London day.

Suddenly, Nan huffs at something behind Alice and me. I turn around as we pass a few old men in suits and top hats. They ogle a group of kids that stand with numbered cards hung over their necks. The kids look as young, and dirty, as Houndsditch's orphans.

"Gonophs and lurkers!" Nan's opinion is very firm as she angrily states her mind. "Common as cockroaches. The little tykes are food for perverts. Like the blameless ants that wasps consume, or a spider's feeble prey."

I keep silent as my mind cojures up these images. What I get doesn't look very nice.

"You visited my room at Rutledge," Alice says to Nan out of the blue. "What were you—?"

"You recall that?" Nan looks surprised for a moment, but then explains. "Radcliffe paid me, for a bit. A woman alone sometimes does what she doesn't particularly feel like doing, as you know."

"Nurse Witless said you'd fallen on bad times."

"I'm no drunk like her!" Nan pounds the wood next to her as she says this, but she quickly calms down as she continues. "I'm hurting no one. Hooking's not a bad life."

"Except for the pimps." I raise an eyebrow as Alice makes this comment. What's a 'pimp'? Jack Splatter did say something about getting 'those fat-arsed whores out on the street'—does he own them, or something like that? Is that what a 'pimp' is?

"Pris also said you might have my rabbit," Alice continues with wide eyes. "Please, Nanny, talk about—"

"The damn fire!" Nan slowly shakes her head. "Never seems to help. Look, Alice, I can't give you what I don't have. Radcliffe wrote the inquest report; I'll take you to him. Besides, he's got your damn rabbit, you should remember that."

"Alright," Alice agrees with a frown. "But, Mr. Radcliffe's useless!"

"Don't I know it," Nan agrees, and I agree with her. From what Alice has told me, and from the memories I've heard of Radcliffe in Wonderland, he certainly doesn't sound like a nice man.

Nan informs the cart driver of our new destination, to which she gets a quick, but firm, nod. I sit back and try to enjoy the rest of the trip.

Hopefully I'll bump into Dr. Fixxler before I step back into Wonderland. I do still need to pay her.

* * *

The driver stops at the edge of what he calls 'East End', and refuses to go farther. Nan tells us that she needs to get back to the Mermaid, or what's left of it. She heads back the way we came with a quick wave to us. We'll have to walk the rest of the way.

Alice leads me through a brighter, cleaner section of London that she calls 'Threadneedle Street'. Many of the people here have different skin color, eye shape, and posture than the people I saw around Houndsditch. When I ask Alice about this, she gives me a half-smile.

"Most people who live here are immigrants from Asia," she says. "They've come for work, or business. They mostly stick to themselves, but they are tolerant of just about anyone that doesn't offend their heritage or culture. I've spoken with a few before, and they can get quite philosophical."

I just nod, and go along with it; I don't want to ask a random stranger about their culture. No one we pass by on foot greets Alice, or even looks at us, which goes with Alice's point that these people stick to themselves.

Radcliffe's home is a three-story brick building with tall, arching windows, and a gray roof. A large metal gate rests in front of it, with the name 'WILTON J. RADCLIFFE' emblazoned on a gold plate. We walk up to the gate, and Alice presses a button next to it that makes a loud buzz.

"Yes, who is it?" Radcliffe's voice comes out from a speaker next to the door a second later, his haughty tone even more profound in real life. Alice moves over to the speaker and talks to it like an actual person.

"Alice Liddel, Mister Radcliffe. I'm here with a friend of mine from Houndsditch, Kyle Zuclair." She then steps back and gestures for me to speak. I step forward and try to talk normally into the speaker.

"Hello, Mr. Radcliffe. I'm Kyle Zuclair, Alice's friend from Houndsditch. Pleased to meet you." I step back with a tense feeling in my gut, but Alice doesn't seem upset by what I said.

"Ah," Radcliffe says after a moment. "I expected you to be back, Alice, but not with a friend. I suppose you two had better come up. Mind the latch."

The speaker shuts off with a loud _crackle_ , and then the gate slides open for us to walk through. The building's front door is unlocked, as well, and we quickly step into Dr. Radcliffe's residence.

* * *

My first impression of the place is that Radcliffe is very rich. The dark-green walls, and carpeted floor, look very nice and clean. A few paintings hang on the walls; these images vary from mist-covered mountains and stormy seas to people wearing flowing robes while talking calm walks. Alice says these paintings are based on Japanese culture, which looks very different from London.

Several items also rest on display spaces. I ask Alice about all of them as we pass by, and she readily answers me. A blue-and-white vase that Alice calls a ' _Ming_ ' has a large serpentine creature drawn across its surface. Alice calls this creature a ' _Lung_ _D_ _ragon_ ', one of the four great mythological animals of China.

A long, curved sword Alice calls a ' _nodachi_ ' rests inside a glass case, its metal polished so well it shines. A scary-looking red mask, and black helmet, rest alongside a black breastplate that, Alice says, belonged to the ' _samurai_ ' warriors of Medieval Japan. The mask is called a ' _kabuto_ ', designed to strike fear into an enemy as they fight.

We walk up a stairway while looking at these items, and soon reach a door that has the words "OFFICE" on a plaque. Alice announce our arrival; she just pushes the door open and walks in. If she's acting like this, what if she gets violent against Mr. Radcliffe in his own home?

When I step in behind Alice, I feel like we just walked in on a private moment. Radcliffe wears a brown robe and cap over a striped white shirt. Small glasses rest on his equally-small eyes as he looks up at us, some papers in his hands. I'm not sure whether he's working, or sleeping—he looks tired enough in his old face, and slightly-fat frame, to fall asleep at any second.

His office has a crackling fireplace, many more vases of different sizes stacked on shelves, a wooden desk with a plush chair on either side, and windows with closed curtains that block some of the sunlight outside. Artificial light comes from a lamp on his desk. A stuffed rabbit that's missing one eye rests next to the lamp.

* * *

"You _do_ have my rabbit!" Alice shouts this without any warning, and points at the offending object. I just stare at it in silence, not wanting to interfere.

"Forgotten your manners?" Radcliffe asks this with the same voice from Alice's memories as he picks up the rabbit, and stands from his desk. "And what else, I wonder. You abandoned it at Rutledge Asylum, my dear. We've been over this before."

"As for you," he then says with a glance at me and my appearance. "What business do you have being with this girl? Don't you know the trouble she's caused?"

"Alice has told me of her tragedy, Mr. Radcliffe," I try to calmly say as Alice shifts lowers her hand to her side. "I don't despise, or fear her, for it. I've told her my own problems, and that's helped us trust each other."

"Revealing your problems to the mad won't make anything better," Radcliffe rebuts with a huff. "This girl is not normal. You do not want to be with a pyromaniac like her, or any maniac in general."

"I'll go with whomever I damn well choose to, Radcliffe," I shout as my anger breaks loose. "Now, give Alice back her rabbit so she can feel _some_ form of satisfaction with you!"

Radcliffe starts to respond, but Alice drowns him out with a loud groan. I look over to her as she clutches her head with her hands. Her eyes are shut tight, her mouth stuck in a pained grimace. I move to help, but a blackness melts off her skin, and instantly spreads across the room.

I stare as the office around us speeds up through time; slowly, at first, but faster with each second. Years go by in moments. Radcliffe vanishes from sight as something is hammered into the walls. Alice crumples to the floor as the office's colors bleed away. Then, everything returns to normal with a gut-wrenching lurch.

* * *

The office is bare, the open windows boarded up. A cold breeze filters in through the gaps. Alice gets up on her own with a dazed look in her eyes.

"Did I rip his head off?" I pause at these words from her, but she continues with, "I… wanted to…" I help Alice stand up, and she leans heavily on me for a moment. Then, she stands up on her own, her face pale against the office's shadows.

"What's left of my brain will explode," she says to herself as she looks around the aged room. "Is it mad to pray for better hallucinations?"

"Nightmares, and hallucinations, aren't usually wanted by people like us," I respond. Alice looks at me in confusion, and then sadness. She seems to understand what I'm saying.

"Perhaps I'm fated to expire right here," she gloomily states. I clutch her hand and squeeze it in anger, which makes her look at me in surprise.

"The Alice I know doesn't think that way," I tell her. "She understands what she has to do, and goes to any lengths to get it done. That's what I've seen in you, so far. Do you want me to think you're different than that?"

"No, that's…" Alice starts, but quickly falls silent with another look at the wood floor beneath us. She pulls her hand out of my grip as she walks out the office's door frame; the door is long gone. I follow behind her. We walk down creaky steps, and pass by dusty halls with nothing in them.

We step out into a London covered in white powder— _snow_ , my mind tells me. The wind chills me to the bone, and the heat from a nearby burning mushroom doesn't give me any comfort. The mushroom in question looks like one from the Vale of Tears.

We trudge through the snow, my clothes no protection against the cold. I try to remember how I kept cool in Tundraful as I keep up with Alice's constant march. We soon pass by a small pedestal with the Mock Turtle inside a broken crystal ball. This tells me a few possible things—we're back in Wonderland, and the Mock Turtle is probably dead. Neither of these give me comfort.

* * *

After we pass a corner, a loud _rumble_ of thunder makes my heart pound in worry. That noise sounds very familiar to that storm from the Vale. But, what does it mean? Is that storm still here, or has it become something worse? Alice and I move a bit quicker around a few more bends, until we see the source of the noise.

I fall to my knees and let out a breathless, " _No…_ " as I see the rest of London torn apart into a rumbling, crackling maelstrom of destruction. The Infernal Train flies by a second later. Its screeching whistle, and flame-filled cars, only add to my torment.

"All this destruction," I say as the Train leaves from view, "and we can't do anything to stop it. The Vale is gone. London's next."

"The Vale of Tears is gone, yes," Alice says as I feel a shimmer of heat from her body. "But, the Vale of Doom remains."

When I look at Alice, she's in her Wonderland clothing. I look down at myself to see I'm now dressed the same way. Then, my hands turn into clouds of mist. They don't revert back, even when I command them to.

"Wha… w-w-what…" I stammer out in shock. "A-Alice! What's happened to me?!"

"Calm down," Alice says as she helps me up and places an arm around my shoulders. "Let's keep moving. The Kyle I know doesn't let fear hold him back from his goals."

I take no solace in this fact as Alice helps me walk forward, and into the Vale of Doom.

* * *

The Vale's storm continues without end around us. Our path changes from cobblestones, to solid brown rock, to a narrow bridge that stretches across the thunder and lightning. Parts of London buildings fly alongside, and into, parts of the Vale of Tears without any sense of order. The constant destruction makes me feel insignificant against this force of nature.

"This bloody Ruin!" Alice exclaims with a look around us as we enter an open space amidst the storm. "It's corrupted nearly all of Wonderland!"

Alice's hair flutters in the wind as she says this. My heart flutters with hope as the Cheshire Cat materializes before us.

"Seeking refuge from the wicked world?" he asks Alice with his usual grin. "Perhaps things only _look_ like they've gone to Hell."

"You're not that good a liar, and neither of us are that stupid." Alice's comment mixes with anger against the Cat's disheartening words. She lets me stand on my own as she continues with, "But, something a bit less calamitous would have been welcome."

"This unmitigated disaster is your doing, and it _will_ get worse. Your train keeps a hellish schedule." The Cat then looks to the both of us as he grimly says, "Get moving, both of you. Time waits for no one. The change has begun!"

"The Train is perfectly capable of frightening us, Cat," Alice remarks as I walk up to her side again. "You should find another job. Is there really so little hope?"

"There's even less," he replies with a flick of his ears. "And, if fear paralyzes you both, we're lost."

"Cheshire," I get out against my growing panic. "Wait! My powers… they're not… they're not working right. You trained me in how to use them, so what's wrong with me?"

I lift up my hands to show him their absence. I swear his eyes widen for a second, but he recovers very quickly if he even was surprised.

"You always were an emotional student," he says after a moment's thought. "Emotion isn't always the best thing for a warrior to have a lot of. You'd better get it under control, or out of your system, before you two face the _real_ problem."

He then vanishes, but we get no respite as several Insidious Ruin, and one Menacing Ruin, rise from Ruin blotches around us. I automatically concentrate on my weapons, and my hands return to a solid state as the Automaton Hammer appears in my hands. I squeeze it with wordless joy, but then see my left arm is gone.

Despite this change, my hands are back, and I hold the weapon just fine. Alice moves toward the Menace, Vorpal Blade drawn. The Insidious come at me.

* * *

The front-most monster gurgles out a battle cry as fire flies from its back. I dodge to the side, and then swing the Hammer into its doll-like face. It stumbles back, and a second swing knocks its mask clean off. It cries and melts into the ground as a second one charges me.

I beat this one in a similar fashion to the first, and a third appears when that one falls. I swing at it, but it actually dodges me. It then slashes me along my exposed side. I grunt, and then cry out as this pain doesn't fade away. Is this another effect of my out-of-control powers?

I swing desperately, and actually knock the Insidious into the air. I jump up while the creature hangs in midair, raise the Hammer over my back, and slam it back into the ground. It splatters apart as even more Insidious surround me. I swing, spin, and pound on instinct alone.

Once there's no foes left, pain overwhelms me. I look around us with tears in my eyes. I only see Alice, a strange object covered in Ruin blotches, and the Vale of Doom's storm. I check myself over; there are a few more scratches along my arms and chest. They don't hurt as much as the first one, but it's still more pain I have to deal with.

When I look to Alice again, she's bashed the Ruin off the strange object with the Hobby Horse. The revealed object has a long, thin mouthpiece that connects to a jar of some gas that's over a bright flame. The jar is light-brown, the gas as white as my mists. I slowly walk over as Alice sucks on the mouthpiece like a Cannon Crab's cigar. Bubbles _pop_ in my ears as Alice breathes out a long trail of smoke from her nostrils. She also bobs back and forth for a second, like she's dazed.

" _A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step._ " A calm voice, as cryptic as the Cheshire Cat, reaches my ears with those words. I feel something shift in the air. When I look around, a stone platform hangs in a cloud of white smoke near us.

"A single step off of London Bridge could end my journey." I am near enough to hear Alice say this, seemingly to the voice. Does she know it?

" _Failure as an epitaph?_ " The strange voice huffs in disbelief. " _I'd hoped you were more courageous!_ " Alice doesn't respond as I walk over to her.

"Alice," I quietly ask. "Who was that?"

"Caterpillar," she responds. "The wisest of all of Wonderland's creatures. He uses the smoke from these hookahs here to reach a higher state of mind." She then gestures to the object she just used, the apparent 'hookah'. What sort of 'higher state' does this thing let you reach?

Alice turns to the smoke-covered platform, and I instantly follow her. I stand on the platform for a brief moment, and smell the smoke. It's a sweet scent that blurs my vision, and sends tingles down through my body. I feel like I want more of it—maybe there are more hookahs here.

* * *

My arm returns to normal as I land on the next open slab of rock, but I stumble as my feet now vanish. I still _feel_ them, and can still _walk_ with them, but I can't _see_ , or _run_ , with them. Luckily, we just have to navigate more solid platforms for the next few minutes. A few Slithering Ruin try to ambush us along the way, and fail.

Alice goes off the main path to fetch a distant bottle, but I disregard that and press on. My common sense says I should stay with Alice, but my instincts tell me to keep moving until I find an un-corrputed place. The longer I'm in here, the more broken I feel inside. I don't want to find out what will happen if I completely break apart.

My feet come back as I reach yet another open stone space, but the left half of my vision turns white the moment I look down. I place a hand on my face, and it phases right through my left eye, ear, and scalp. I then see more Insidious Ruin rise up from the ground, just when I feel vulnerable. I switch over to the Ice Wand. The Wand's icy touch does nothing to restore my vision, but it does give me new energy.

I kill all the Insidious with spheres, bolts, and waves of Tundraful's frigid cold. Once again, I fight with instinct. Dodge, and then strike. Jump back, and then fire. Simple. Effective. Ruthless. They're all dead before I consider their total numbers.

A footfall makes me whirl around and fire a bolt of frost. It barely misses its target; Alice. She starts to shout at me, but stops as she sees what's happened to me. Her own eyes are wide, alarmed. _Afraid_.

No, no, that's wrong. She's not afraid of me, just surprised. Why did I think she's afraid of me? I've told her everything about me, strengths and weaknesses. I acted on instinct; she had taken a detour, and was catching up. No harm done.

Still, Alice gives me a worried glance as she smashes the second hookah free. The scent of the smoke tingles in my nostrils, and I know I need to have some.

"I want to take a puff," I gruffly say as I press against Alice as she's about to take some.

She pushes me back with the words, "You don't want this stuff; you're not used to it. You'll get addicted, and I can't stand addicts."

I clench my fists as Alice inhales the smoke, and then exhales it through her nose. Her eyes look like she's seeing another world. A better world. Why does she get to be there, and not me?

" _That vaporous ledge is only as flimsy and insubstantial as your conscience,_ " the Caterpillar says to us as another smoke-covered rock forms for us. " _It will hold you, trust me!_ " We both trust him, and I relish in the chance to breathe in more of the smoke. A wisp is enough, for now.

* * *

After Alice makes a detour for something I no longer care about, we soon reach a ledge a bit below a large stream of black liquid. It looks like the Domain's molten metal, but it's more Ruin than metal, now. Insidious and Slithering Ruin rise from this primordial ooze, and I take out as many of both as I can. My side aches from that earlier slash, but I let the pain fuel my attacks. I move faster, with stronger strikes, against these corrupters of Wonderland.

Once they're all gone, I jump over the molten Ruin and charge through an archway into a clearing filled with brown leaves and stone arches. The leaves block any view of the outside, and the only thing inside is a circular table with a large teapot on top. Alice runs into the clearing just as I move over to this pot. She picks it up. The moment she does, my vision returns to normal. However, my navel and chest are the next to vanish, which splits my body in half.

The teapot is black with silver details, a blue clock face inside its frame. White steam comes from its nozzle, and a smaller clock with same color, and details, rests next to it. Alice picks up a slip of paper from next to the smaller clock, and unfolds it for us to see. It turns out to be a poster for this thing, a "Teapot Cannon".

" _You have just obtained the Mad Hatter Manufacturing Inc. TEAPOT CANNON,_ " the poster reads, with the manufacturing date of January 27, 1874. It advertises the weapon as " _Never Seen Before!_ " and, " _Brand New!_ " It then gives a drawing of the Cannon, and a description of its parts.

An " _Automatic Steam Exhaust Cap_ " connects to a " _Clockface Pressure Meter_ " to mark the Cannon's power. The poster says the Cannon " _Shoots devastating Tea Grenades_ ". Those must be the smaller clocks. Finally, the poster ends with the words, " _Throw an instant tea party! IT'LL BE A BLAST!_ "

"Best put this with the rest, Kyle," Alice says as she rolls up the poster, and then hands it to me. She stops as she notices my change of body, but I still take the poster and slip in into my still-solid pants pocket.

"What's with your aggression?" she then asks me with a frown. "Don't tell me you've been consumed by anger because of this corruption. Only a barbarian lets themselves be enveloped in rage."

"Whether I'm a warrior, or a barbarian," I respond with a firm wave of my hand. "I'm not going to stand by and watch this land go to Hell. This corruption _will_ be destroyed, and Wonderland _will_ be saved."

The ground shakes, thunder roars across the clearing; the Vale of Doom challenges my words. Insidious Ruin rise up from around us. Alice stops me from moving away as she holds the Cannon's back handle and charges up a shot. The weapon charges like the Eyepot's ranged attack; steam channels through the cap as the pressure meter climbs up until Alice presses the trigger.

A large ball of tea flies out in an arc, and impacts the bunched-up Ruin with a loud _hiss_. Those in the impact's center cry out and instantly melt apart. The ones farther away don't die, but still gurgle in pain. Alice charges a second shot as I turn back to look at her. The pressure meter reaches its maximum as the second shot flies out, and the rest of the Ruin's death-cries reach my ears.

* * *

Alice smiles at her new weapon's power, but frowns as the ground shakes again. The same Ruin from the Depths, the inhuman monster that towers over us, returns for a second round. Alice doesn't have time to collect the teeth and rose petals that fall before it moves towards her. I run in a different direction than her; she has to teleport back to avoid its bite. She fires more tea grenades at its faces, which seem to do their job.

I fire Ice bolts in tandem as I move opposite Alice, skirting past the Ruin to get good shots at its faces. My aggression is punished when it suddenly whirls its huge frame around. Before I can blink, burning Ruin coats my body. I cry out and try to teleport back, but I don't feel my mists respond—another side effect. I'm forced to stumble back from the Ruin's mouth-arms as they try to grab me. I fall prone as my back hits a wall, the Ruin's arms about to pull me into its toothless mouth.

Then, it rears back and roars. I look at its body, and see all the faces gone. That's it, then; it's going to burrow in the ground, and leave us alone. We'll have to face it another time.

Instead of that, the Ruin shudders, convulses, and _changes_. The wheels move down to its 'legs', and become them. Its pipes move below its mouth, and new ones rise on its back. The arms move to the sides of those pipes as a new doll face rises from within its maw. The Ruin now cries out in multiple voices and barrels towards me like a steam engine.

Then, all I feel is the fire it belches out over me.

My ears roar with the sound of crackling flames and hissing skin. No part of me is spared, and my screams only fuel the inferno. My heart beats wildly as I realize I'm burning up, with no way to escape. The heat drains my strength, melts away any confidence my new aggression had, strips me bare and alone.

My scream becomes a screech as I reach into myself and _pull_. I fly across the clearing, rise above it, and see from every possible angle at once. The Vale of Doom's thunder roars through me as I unleash the anger, desperation, and fear inside my mind. A space of vines and leaves bursts apart from my power, but I focus my efforts into the clearing.

I punch through the Ruin's outer layer, pull out its pipes, claw my way beneath its frozen mask. The Ruin rises from the ground, powerless under my grip as I feel my power enter every single piece of it. I hold it in place, and see myself doing so, its body red against my overwhelming white. I wait for an order from myself to finish the job, to kill this corrupter.

My voice, in a thousand mouths, shouts the order in one word: " _DIE!_ "

I rip the Ruin into thousands upon thousands of pieces. My copies move across the clearing and pick up any spare parts. I also move by Alice's frozen position from every possible angle, and through her body. I feel her vitality, her strength, her courage, and I leave behind bits of this enemy's essence for her.

In those moments, I hear a dark chuckle. Ten pairs of my eyes see a smiling Hysteria Alice where Alice should be. Her eyes spill fresh blood as she wags a finger in a manner that says I've done something wrong. She knows something I shouldn't have told her. I stare at her, and she breaks out into a psychotic cackle as she grabs a red piece of the Ruin for herself, and fades away.

Then, all I see is white as I flow back into my body, restore myself to full health. All the negative emotions I felt when I first entered the Vale of Doom flow out into the Vale's storm. What's left isn't happiness or joy, just an empty void. I close my eyes and pause for several seconds, confused and scared at what I've become.

* * *

I open my eyes again. Alice looks at me with an emotion I can't read. At least she _has_ an emotion; all of mine blew away in the storm. I press a hand against my chest, and realize it's solid again. This time, my right arm has turned to mist.

"Let me guess," Alice finally says to me. "That was your angriest state?" I look away as I try to form an answer.

"It's my Unleashed state," I carefully say, the name made up on the spot. "It's what happened to me in that burning pipe maze, in the Domain. It's like your Hysteria, but it kills all enemies I can reach at once instead of facing them head-on."

"Hysteria isn't _mine_ , so to speak," Alice replies, which makes me flinch in embarrassment. "But, I see what you mean. Do you feel better, now?"

"No…" I mutter as I try to find an emotion to respond with. "I feel sad. Lost. Empty…" I turn to Alice as tears start to fall from my cheeks. "Hollow."

Alice quickly comes over and hugs me tight. I hold back from sobbing as we embrace each other within the Vale of Doom, a flame of calm against the surrounding winds that want to snuff us out. Those winds harden my heart, make me determined to keep what remains of Wonderland alive and pure.

It's the least I can do for Alice, now.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We're back in Wonderland, and things have only gotten worse.**

 **As usual, all reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	22. In the Smoke, a Paradox

**Hello, readers! Here is the next chapter, with Alice and Kyle moving from one place to another.**

 **Not much else to say, really. I've been a bit sick over the past week, but I think I've mostly recovered. It didn't affect my writing ability too much, but I'm trying to be careful. After all, if I'm sick, I can't write as best I can. Sorry if I'm rambling.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they choose to introduce in the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I don't want this moment to end. The two of us hold each other, a moment of peace amidst the Vale of Doom's chaos. It's too peaceful to leave. But, Alice eventually pulls away from me. I silently plead for her to stay, but she doesn't look back. She moves over to the broken section of wall in the clearing, and stops at the edge of a ramp.

I force myself to move to Alice's position. If I don't, neither of us will get what we want. I'll be left without my memories, and Alice's Wonderland will fall apart before her eyes. My mind wanders as we move to a nearby ramp, and Alice gets some teeth. It seems like I have some connection to Wonderland, if I care about it like this.

I filter back through my memories, try to put the pieces together. I was some kind of subject in the Mad Hatter's experiments. I escaped him, and the Queen of Heart's soldiers. Then, I found the Cheshire Cat. I became his student, learned his powers. I joined some kind of resistance against the Queen of Hearts. Then, I left Wonderland behind, and woke up in London.

That last part confuses me the most as Alice and I walk up a rocky slope. How did I go from Wonderland, a place where I had power, to a powerless form in London? _Why_ would I do that? Unless… I was forced to? But, if that's the case, who would force me down that path?

My thoughts pause as Alice moves over to a third hookah on top of a ramp. She smashes the Ruin off it as I look around on our current path. Then, I see a wall of Ruin that glows behind us. I tap Alice's shoulder to get her attention, and she notices it very quickly.

She shoots it apart with the Teapot Cannon, and we enter a small alcove. Inside, we find some teeth, and a Radcliffe memory. I still feel some contempt for that man as Alice touches the memory.

" _Catastrophe may strike even the best regulated families, Ms. Liddel,_ " the doctor explains. " _Of course, one family's disaster may be another's opportunity. And the same goes for a surviving family member, if you know what I mean._ "

"I know all too well." Alice mutters as we move back to the hookah. Alice takes a slow puff of the smoke. I don't feel any emotion for that stuff. It probably sparked my senses, got me addicted to it, which Alice said she hated.

"I'm devastated," Alice says as another misty platform emerges from nothing. "Look what's become of my beautiful valley!" I don't need any reminding, that's for sure.

" _All things change in the fullness of time,_ " Caterpillar states as we take the platform onto a narrow path between two giant islands. " _Often, not for better._ " Again, no need to be reminded of this when I can clearly see it going on around me.

We take the platform up to a higher island. There's a Menacing Ruin with some Insidious Ruin on a nearby island. Alice and I look at each other, and I swear the same message passes through both our minds. She readies the Cannon as I summon the Hammer and switch it to 'RM'. Then, we bombard the Ruin from a distance.

The Insidious melt away, or get blown apart. The Menacing's fireballs are deflected back via Alice's umbrella, and it melts back into the ground without damaging us. Once the island is clear, we quickly jump, or leap, to it. Alice absorbs all the teeth and rose petals she can, while also avoiding the small streams of black lava.

My ears pick up the familiar snorts of a Snout. Alice hears it too, but we can't see it. Alice moves to a nearby platform to smash some boxes, and then uses the Pepper Grinder from her new location. After I hear the Snout's loud sneeze, a floating gear moves over for us. We both take it up to a keyhole, and shrink down to go through it.

There's another Radula Room past the keyhole. The last Room we were in, back in the Depths, was quite challenging. What will this one have? Another survival round with the Hatter and that rabbit watching us? A riddle with the Cheshire Cat? What will Hysteria Alice say to us, once we win? _Will_ we win, this time?

Alice grabs my hand and pulls me inside before I can ask her my questions.

* * *

A sob escapes my throat as I see we're in the Vale of Tears. Or, what's left of it. Compared to the Vale of Doom, it looks so serene and beautiful. The water that laps against my boots is much better than Ruin-covered lava. The cow-birds in the air remind me of the Mock Turtle. Even the night sky brings a tear to my eye, since it shines like Tundraful's aurora-filled horizon.

The Cheshire Cat appears on a small rock inside the lake. His ears fall flat to his face when he sees my sad appearance. I try to calm my emotions down as he turns to face Alice with a happier tone. The Cat said I was too emotional, before. I should try and change that, now.

"Alice, I know of your fondness for all manner of puzzles." He says with a quick wave of his paw. "So, riddle me this. We welcome the arrival of a phantom at sunset, only to rue its departure at sunrise. What is it?"

Alice places a hand to her chin and closes her eyes. I take another look around us as she thinks of her answer. The Cat silently waits, not looking away from her. Soon enough, Alice opens her eyes again.

"The answer is 'a dream'," she says.

" _Purrrrrrrrfect_ ," the Cat replies, rolling his 'r's' like they're the greatest syllable ever created. Then, he turns to me. I don't want to answer a question, but I guess I have no choice.

"Consider the following, Kyle," he says as his tail trails through the water behind him. "I know of something that brings tears to the eye, resurrects the dead, turns back time, and makes people smile. It is formed in an instant, but it lasts a lifetime. Do you know what it is?"

This is a lot to think over. I sense Alice looking at me as I close my eyes and clench my fists. I try to keep calm; the relative silence of this place helps with that. What _doesn't_ help aremy chaotic thoughts. I've had so many highs, and lows, over the past few days. I've seen a bright side, and dark side, to a lot of things. What's there that can last a lifetime, and do so many inhuman feats?

Wait. Could it be…? No, no, it _can't_ be that simple. Can it? Could the very thing I'm searching for, the one thing I lack, be the answer? It doesn't sound right. But, the more I think about it, the more I think that it's true. I guess I have to try.

I open my eyes, look into the Cat's own eyes, and quietly say, "It's a memory."

His ears twitch, but his grin doesn't fade as he replies, "Excellent." Then, he vanishes. Two more vials of Rose Paint float where he sat, and Alice quickly takes them.

" _Don't try to take back your past,_ " Hysteria Alice whispers to us as our vision turns to black. " _You should carve new futures in the blood of your enemies. It's the only way to truly overcome the madness!_ "

* * *

We find ourselves by the black lava; the Vale of Doom's storm crackles around us like before. I look at my body to see my shoulders have turned to mist. Just the latest side-effect of my rampant powers, I suppose.

We jump, or leap, across several close islands, and take out Drifting Ruin along the way. They are simple enough to defeat, if you keep track of them. Plus, their teeth and rose petals only fuel Alice's power.

After finding some bottles, Alice blows open a wall with the Cannon. We then go through that wall mid-jump, and land on a checkered island straight out of the Hatter's Domain. Its authenticity is further confirmed when several Madcaps, and two Eyepots, emerge from clouds of white smoke to fight us.

I switch to the Ice Wand as Alice instantly peppers down the closest Eyepot. The Madcaps try to split up, but I catch them off guard with an arcing blast of cold. I power through my fatigue as I switch to the Automaton Hammer, ready its 'MM', and let loose a spinning attack. They all shatter to pieces from my force.

As I slow myself down, I feel elated that plan worked. It seems my regeneration, and teleportation, don't work properly anymore. However, I am able to attack faster than before. Could this be some kind of balancing effect?

I glance at Alice as she swings the Hobby Horse into the last Eyepot. The weapon snorts on the first swing, and then grunts on the second. It seems to know that it's spending more effort with each swing. The Eyepot certainly feels the impacts, and it breaks apart after two full sets.

As Alice collects her reward, a familiar snorting alerts us to a Menacing Ruin on a lower island. We easily dodge its fireballs, and bombard it to bits from our current higher ground. We jump down there after it dies, and an ambush of four Drifting Ruin is easily dealt with. Their grunts and snorts give them away.

We soon pass by the desolated Looking Glass Line Station. The railroad car has rotted away, and black lava streams through what remains of the track. Insidious Ruin rise up from the lava in waves, and we deal with them every way we can. It's not much of a fight; I don't keep track of what I do, or how many of these little creatures I kill.

After the last of these Ruin fall, we move across even more broken platforms of rock and checkered tiles. More Madcaps and Drifting Ruin try to stop us, but we just kill them without slowing down. These foes are simple enough for us to fall into a pattern.

Alice and I cycle between melee and ranged attacks. My shoulders return to normal in the midst of combat. I then lose all sense of smell as my nose turns cold and wet. It doesn't affect my combat, but it does feel quite weird.

Alice stops me as she looks over a large open space ahead of us. She shrinks down, and then starts walking on what I assume are invisible platforms. I shrink down, and follow her across. I don't care to track the pattern; I just match her steps. That's much easier right now.

* * *

As we reach a large steam pot after we grow back to normal size, I see another solid path that leads to a darker space. A sudden feeling of determination makes me stop. I reach out and touch Alice's shoulder. She stops, and looks back at me in confusion.

"I think we're moving too fast." I say. Alice raises an eyebrow as I continue. "There might be something we've missed."

"'Something we missed'?" Alice slowly repeats my question. "What do you think we missed? Don't you want out of this place?"

"I do want out," I respond. "But, what if there's some shred of hope we passed by? I don't want it to be lost, forever." Alice looks deep into my eyes without saying a word. Then, she slowly pulls back.

"Fine," she finally says. "We'll take a look down the other path. I can see you're determined enough to see this through." We move along the new path, and find a Liddel memory between two broken slabs of stone.

" _I've smoked a cigarette, Alice,_ " Lizzie comments after Alice touches the memory. " _No fun at all. One day I'll try a clay pipe._ "

That sounds kind of funny, considering Caterpillar's hookahs seem like pipes. But, I disregard it as we continue to move across move invisible platforms and vents in a long loop back to where I stopped Alice. Alice gets a lot of teeth from our journey, which she seems to like.

Once we get back on track, we arrive at a space with several large root arches. The arches have mostly rotted away. A large rock stands in the center of the flat, open space. The Cheshire Cat appears next to that rock with a timely _rumble_ of thunder.

"The sight, the stink, the sinister sound!" he comments with a wild gleam in his eyes. "What have you imagined, Alice?"

Alice looks down at the ground in silence, and the Cat vanishes before I say a word. She takes a few seconds in silent reflection, and then whirls around and draws the Pepper Grinder. I duck down as she starts to shoot pepper right at me.

Actually, she shoots pepper _over_ me, at an invisible Snout I hadn't heard. Then, I realize I can't hear _anything_. I pat around my face and realize that, to my disgust, my nose is back at the price of my ears. They give the same cold and wet feeling as my nose did. But, the loss of my hearing puts me more on edge.

I look around me, in almost every possible direction. With my hearing gone, I feel a dull ring where my ears would be. I smell bits of pepper in the air, and I can't hear my own sneeze. Even a sneeze feels weird, without the accompanying sound.

I see Alice leap up to a series of small platforms that lead to a larger platform. I don't know what's up there, but I feel content to see her get her effort's reward. I turn from her to double-check my surroundings one more time.

I then silently scream as something slashes me along the face. I fall to my knees as my eyes water over. I can barely see Insidious Ruin nearby, one of them quite close to me. I only have a second to fight them, or run away.

I crawl back as quickly as I can, and then stand up and break into a sprint to the far end of the platform. Drifting Ruin rise up to meet me, their doll masks moving to make sounds I can't hear. I turn around and keep running away from all these enemies. If I stop and try to fight, I won't be able to hear them come up to attack me. That's not a factor I want to contend with.

Luckily, Alice soon arrives from the other platform to help me. I stick close to her and use the Hammer to pound any Ruin that gets too close. She, in turn, bombards the faraway Ruin with tea grenades. That weapon's impact matches the Hammer's Ranged Mode, it's so powerful.

We soon beat back the wave, but I place a hand on the ground as it shakes wildly. A Colossal Ruin rises from beneath the farthest arch. I don't hear its roar, but I still feel intimidated by its presence. It lurches toward us with outstretched arms, and we split up to attack it from either side.

I swap to the Ice Wand and shoot a face with bolts of cold. Each face freezes up, and then shatters, under continued fire. I don't see what weapon Alice uses, but I suspect it is dealing damage from the opposite side. I run when the Ruin gets close; I don't want to get swallowed by it again.

Soon, the Ruin transforms into its second form. This time, we are both far away enough that it has to pick one of us to move towards. It literally moves like the Infernal Train does, with fire from its front end and smoke from its pipes.

I look to Alice, and she fires a tea grenade at the Ruin's front face. It doesn't seem to slow it down, but I join her attack with an ice sphere. The Ruin eventually does take enough damage on its face to stop moving. It slumps to the ground, stunned. Vulnerable.

I charge forward without thinking of the consequences. Anger fuels my strength as I jump forward and stab the Ice Wand into the Ruin's mask. I don't hear the sound it makes, but the shudder it makes tells me it was painful. Alice teleports beside me to hack away at the face with the Vorpal Blade. We cause it to crack, but that's all we get before it rises back up again. I pull the Ice Wand out just in time.

This time around, we know how to beat it. But, the Ruin seems to move faster than before, like it's angry at getting hurt. I feel the heat lick at my back when I run away from it, and I'm sure Alice gets hurt as well. When we finally stun it again, we go all-out in our attacks. Alice cries something out with an angry expression as she finally shatters the mask with the Hobby Horse.

The Ruin melts apart, and I step back to avoid its body from covering my boots. However, I still feel a surge of victory from the fact we can actually _beat_ this thing without relying on our most powerful states. The pain on my face doesn't block this feeling. The aching of my limbs doesn't block this feeling.

What _does_ block it is when my hearing comes back. It feels so overwhelming, I just have to bask in the noise, there's no other way for me to handle it. I lose my senses in the Vale of Doom's noise. It comes to me that I hated it, before. Now, I can let myself go in it without harm, without any major emotional loss. Is that normal?

I come back to myself once I feel the pain on my face fade into a low throb. I move towards the arches as Alice emerges from inside a Shrinking Violet. She's healed back up from the battle, but stays beside me as we go through the arches. She places a hand on my back, but I feel it phase through my spine. So, _that's_ what's gone, now. At least I can still move.

* * *

We soon reach another Ruin-covered hookah. Alice smashes the black tar off before she takes a puff. Another set of mist-covered platforms emerges for us to walk across. These ones lead to a larger rocky space, but this space has a waterfall that seems right out of the old Vale of Tears.

" _It's not only about you, Alice!_ " Caterpillar urgently states as we move toward the platforms. " _Look at the destruction around you! Consider its cause. Then, come join me._ " I blink at this last bit; maybe we can finally get some proper information from this character?

I take a look back at the hookahs, and notice another glowing wall behind us. Once again, I tap Alice's shoulder and point to the wall. She sighs and shakes her head, but I also see a smile on her lips. This time, I blow the wall apart with the Hammer's Ranged Mode. We get there via a narrow slope of invisible platforms, which Alice notices first through Shrink Sense. She really seems more used to that power than me.

Once we go through the wall, we find a small cave with checkered tiles. A Pris memory is easy enough to see, and release. However, Pris's comment makes me shudder: " _Skin burned by fire or scalded in steam looks wrinkled, like a toadstool in winter._ "

A bit farther into the cave, a single Eyepot, and a few Madcaps, guard several metal boxes from us. Since they most certainly contain teeth for Alice, we take this chance to fight them. These foes are old to us, so it doesn't take long to beat them. They don't try any new tricks against us, either.

At the very least, I get the chance to vent out some anger when I stab the Ice Wand into a Madcap's green-skinned head and freeze its body like some demented treat. I hear Alice laugh for a moment, and turn to see the Eyepot's 'eye' leak copious amounts of blood as the creature writhes in its death throes. That certainly looks painful.

We go back out the same way we came, and then take a final vent to the island with the waterfall. As we approach the stream, we notice one large rock with fresh, green grass around it. Smoke drifts from the very top of the rock; it turns out the smoke comes from some kind of small tower.

"This must be Caterpillar's grove," I hear Alice quietly say. "Figures he'd set a place of contemplation amidst so much catastrophe." I have no answer for her, and Caterpillar speaks up before I could think of an answer, anyway.

" _You are familiar with the saying that, "Smoking stunts your growth"?_ " He asks this to Wonderland's guardian.

"Adults assault children with that adage," Alice responds as she finishes a brief examination of the grove. "Usually while they've got a pipe stuck in their mouths."

" _Too true, I'm afraid. As for you, Kyle, I trust you now understand the consequences of having your emotions control your thoughts?_ "

I jump when Caterpillar mentions me, and knows my name. Does he remember me from somewhere? Will I learn more about him after we meet? It sounds like he's seen what happened here in the Vale, at least.

"I understand, Sir," I reply with a quick nod, and an affirmation to his apparent superiority. "But, I can't just remove my emotions altogether. They help make me who I am."

" _That is also true. You have unwittingly stumbled into the eternal conflict of logic versus emotion. Those who start it must choose the lesser of these two evils, or risk a fight against themselves they can't win._ " Those aren't very comforting words to hear, but I don't get the chance to argue before the smoke spreads around us like my mists normally would around me.

" _I won't ask you two to inhale,_ " Caterpillar tells us. " _Let the smoke envelop you._ " Alice spreads her arms out while I choose to actually take a breath of the smoke. Tingles run through my skin, turn my blood electric, catapult my senses to a new high. Everything feels so much more… _alive_.

If this is what addiction is like, I see what Alice means by it being hard to let go.

I close my eyes as I feel my body begin to shrink down, farther than ever before…

* * *

A distant chime resonates in my mind. It sounds familiar, but I can't picture where I heard it before. I open my eyes to see we're in a new area. It's kind of like Tundraful, but the air is much warmer.

The water here is a dark green, and large fish with red-and-white scales jump into the air every few seconds. Unlike the Shipwreck Sharks, these fish are actually kind of pretty to my eye; they don't have sharp teeth, to start with.

Small stone islands are connected by floating tiles with images of faces, plants, or animals. The sky is light gray, black characters streaming down to the far horizon. As I look at these characters, a matching definition for each of them instantly appears in my mind.

I quickly find the characters for 'sky', 'water', 'mountain', 'fish' and 'fire'. This confuses me, since I didn't recognize any spot of the other places in Wonderland when Alice and I arrived there. Had I lived here, before I lost my memories? I turn to Alice to ask her about this, and pause at the new clothing she wears.

She has the same boots and tights on as before, but she now wears a strange dress that reaches to her upper legs. It has a dark blue base, with blue, pink, and teal patterns along the edges and front. Several flowers and butterflies of these colors are sown into the fabric. The very edge has several squares of pink silk that fold over one another.

The skull on Alice's back is mostly the same, except it is now green against a pink bow. The necklace on her neck is a green gem. A pink collar covers her neck, with the same pattern of folding pink silk squares. A small covering of pink-and-white fabric covers both of her upper arms. Her eyes are the same color, and her hair still hangs down. Two new alchemical symbols are sown into the fabric, as well.

I look myself over, and see I now wear a gray long-sleeved robe with white pants. I blush at the fact the robe slides over my left shoulder, which leaves my right shoulder bare. The robe is tied to the pants by a grey belt. My feet are bare, like Alice's were in the Deluded Depths. The stone beneath me feels hard, but not painful.

"That's an… interesting look." Alice comments. I see her look me over with raised eyebrows. I blush even more as I see more of my skin is exposed than her. My arms don't look that muscular when revealed, but I know how much strength I can give in a fight. I ask Alice about the symbols, and she quickly explains.

"The symbols on this dress represent Pluto and Uranus. Pluto is the ruler of death, and represents the mind moving past matter to reach a divine spirit. I suppose that matches the fact we have to find Caterpillar. Uranus represents violent upheaval and revolution; that could be Caterpillar himself.

"As for your clothing," she then says as she points at my new appearance. "You seem to be wearing a variant of a monk's robe. I heard there are warrior monks, and peaceful monks who seek spiritual enlightenment. I'm not sure which one you're supposed to be."

"Either one works in my head." I say as I take a few steps around the small island we stand on. I don't feel any major pain on my feet, just a mild irritation. I summon the Hammer, and then the Ice Wand, to my hands. Then I focus on the mists which were once under my control.

To my joy, the mists are back to normal; I feel them move to my will once again. I teleport across the small island several times in quick succession, and revel in the familiar sensations. However, I quickly regain m senses when I hear the same chimes strike again.

Alice hears them, too, as she turns her gaze to an island in the distance. To get over there, we'll have to cross several small islands, walk across the floating tiles, and jump over open gaps. However, none of these challenges don't look so difficult to complete. It's almost like this is an easy section of Caterpillar's grove, for us to regain our bearings after the Vale of Doom's open chaos.

Whatever the reason is for this calm state, I welcome the chance for some apparent relaxation. I dismiss my weapons, since I don't notice any enemies around us. As I look at the sky again, I recognize more of the same characters as they flow down. I then realize that Alice might know what language these words are, so I ask her about it.

"Those words in the sky?" She looks up to where I point, and stares along with me. "Those are Chinese characters; traditional, I believe, since some of them look quite complicated to write out." She then turns to me with the words, "Fancy you knowing some of them. I guess you have visited Caterpillar before?"

"If I did," I reply as I crouch for a jump to a nearby stone island. "I don't remember it. We'd better get to Caterpillar, to figure that out."

"Oh, I'm sure we can figure some of it out before we get to him. After all, if this is the 'Oriental Grove', as I think it should be called, then there are many secrets here waiting to be discovered."

' _I hope w_ _e can find them without getting sidetracked,_ ' I think as we both leap to the nearest stone island, and begin our journey towards Caterpillar.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We have arrived in the 'Oriental Grove', aka 'Mysterious East'! What will happen here?**

 **As usual, reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated. I do want to know how you all think this story is going.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	23. Asthetics of the East

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter for you all to read.**

 **Just to let you know, because of the holidays coming up, my posting schedule will be changed. I might post chapters earlier, or later, I don't know which yet. Not much else to say beyond that.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are all owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC and any fully original content they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

Two sets of floating tiles are before us. One goes straight ahead, the other to the right. The straight one leads to the larger island, while the right one goes to a chain hanging from a fish statue's mouth. We head to the fish-chain first. Alice drops closer to the water along the way to grab a bottle.

Alice pulls the chain down when we reach it. This causes several stone pillars to rise, and fall, below the water's surface. Their pattern is simple to follow, and we reach another platform without a problem. The path branches out again from here, like a maze. I spot a nearby platform with some teeth, but Alice taps my shoulder before I move over there. She signals a platform lower to the water with a floating bottle. I nod in confirmation of her silent request, and we split up.

I jump over to the platform, tuck the white teeth into my hand, and then jump back over. Alice comes up to me at the same time, and her body absorbs the teeth instantly. With that done, we move onto a toadstool spring that catapults us above some of those red-and-white fish. They jump up from the waves like the Shipwreck Sharks, but they don't try to eat us. Once we land on solid stone, we cross one more set of floating tiles to reach the island.

A familiar snort directs our eyes to a Snout that hangs on the side of the platform we just left. Alice peppers it up, which causes a few tiles to float to us from places I can't see. Their path leads to some structure my mind tells me is a 'honeycomb'. I also realize I've never liked the way those things looked. Some of the holes are filled with something, while others are open and bare.

I force myself to look at Alice as we jump across the tiles to reach the honeycomb. Alice smashes it down with the Horse, and we step into a small cave with stone walls. A few brown-and-red pots give teeth and petals when Alice smashes them open, but the main prize is a Radcliffe memory. Now that I know how he acts in reality, his memories seem all the more conceited.

Radcliffe's voice rings out across the cave with an oddly soft tone: " _Whoever said true art serves neither ornament or use is ignorant of the aesthetic of the East._ "

Alice and I walk out of the cave, and head over to the island's sandy shores. A long staircase climbs up the sides of a rocky cliff by the sand, the stairs climbing in a back-and-forth motion. Before I walk up the stairs, Alice moves down the water's edge. I look to where she goes; a set of tiles pop up from the water when she reaches the shore's end.

I use my mists to teleport over to her in a few seconds. We cross these new tiles, and reach a keyhole at the far side of the island. This keyhole is a giant metal sigil carved into the mountainside. We go through this hole to find a small cavern with more pots, and a Liddel Memory.

Lizzie speaks to us about some past experience when the memory shatters: " _Poor Dodgson is a pathetic sailor, and an even worse captain! We'd have run aground on the_ Isis _if I haven't taken an oar!_ "

I look to Alice for some kind of explanation, but she just shakes her head with a slight grin. I guess the Liddel family took some sailing in the past, and Lizzie had hated it. I dismiss it as another of Alice's childhood memories as we head back to the stairs.

* * *

We walk up the stairs until we reach a strange red gateway. Alice calls it a _torri_ when I ask her of its significance. Alice explains that this gate is used by the Shinto religion of Japan to mark places of religious significance. It's bright-red color stands out against the surrounding gray stone as we pass underneath it. Nothing special happens when we do.

We reach a large gap between us, and a higher cliff space. I shrink down after a moment, and see several invisible platforms that we can jump across. Alice takes the lead, and I follow behind. After a moment, the platform beneath my feet starts to vanish. Fear overpowers my confidence, and I make a quick leap back to the cliff I started from. I fall to my hands and knees as I land on solid ground.

I turn to Alice; she's made it across. She looks back at me, and it takes her a moment to realize what's happened. She flashes disappointment, but replaces it with an insistent look a second later. She then beckons me forward, her message clear. I shrink back down to check on the platforms; they're all back to normal. Can I move quickly enough to jump across them in time?

" _No_ ", my body tells me in its own language. " _You shouldn't risk it. You can't move that quickly with your jumps. If you fall here, you'll be dead, or lost in this 'Mysterious East'. Neither option is good. A third option exists, though..._ "

I look at to the gap and realize the third option—leap over the gap to her, like I did in the Vale of Tears. There doesn't seem to be any other good option, so I go for it.

I get up slowly, and focus my mists into my lower body. My feet, and then my legs, tingle more and more, until I think they'll shatter into tingling pieces. Once I feel they're at their strongest, I run a few steps forward. I jump when I get to the edge. My ears roar with air as white mist flow out from around me.

I rise higher and higher, past the fluttering petals of the vanishing platforms, even past Alice's position. Then, I come back down. There's more than enough space to land on. My impact sends a shockwave through the ground; the cliff shakes for a second, but doesn't break apart. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, glad that I didn't make things worse.

Alice flashes a quick smile at me when we make eye contact. I smile back as I get up, and we move on to another gap. This one has a white pot floating in midair, and it emits steam like the Domain's vents. We ride that steam to a balcony, cross over an invisible bridge, and then walk underneath another _torri_. This gate leads to a small village of wooden houses that are on fire. The sand and stone-filled ground has splatters of blood and black scorch marks. Not a comforting sight.

The sight of the orange flames makes me glance towards Alice in worry. If fire killed her family, she might have a bad reaction to this sight. She does frown as she looks over the blaze, but nothing else. That's good. Either of us breaking down now won't help our progress through here.

Even though neither of us break down, I still feel angry at this destruction. What if we had come here sooner, and possibly stopped this from happening? Could we have saved whoever lived here from having their home being ruined? We'll probably never know, and that upsets me.

I catch up to Alice as she moves to another honeycomb wall to the right of this area, and smashes it open. Some wooden boxes are inside the small cavern, as well as a Bumby memory. The doctor offers words on the life-changing fire when he states, " _What Nurse Witless said was: "The fire whooshed in: lit her up like the 'guy' on Cracker Night. No one knows how she survived… save Alice. And she's shtoom. Remember?"_ "

Bumby speaks in Witless's accent when he quotes her words. Frankly, I don't like the way he sounds when he talks like that. But, it's a memory for Alice, not me, so I can't really argue. Alice also stays silent as we head back into the area… and into some opposition.

* * *

Three wasps descend from the sky near us with loud buzzes. They wear white masks with yellow lines, and yellow robes tied with red ribbons. Their wings are dark yellow wings, sporting square symbols. Their eyes are black, the pupils blood-red. They walk on four legs while the other two hold _katana_ swords.

I instantly summon the Automaton Hammer. The wasps give us menacing hisses, and then charge. One comes at me with its sword aimed at my gut. I swing at it, but it quickly dodges away. I grunt as it then slices into my exposed side, and grunt again when my second swing misses it completely. These things are fast!

I try a spinning attack, but that just hits air. A moment later, the wasp slashes its _katana_ across my chest. The insect's body smells putrid up close, which makes me swing the Hammer even harder. This attack hits, and the wasp flies back. It rights itself with a quick shake of its head. I swing the Hammer down at it, but it jumps back again.

The two of us then engage in some kind of battle dance. Both of us move away from the other's strikes, and then try to strike back. Of course, the first striker jumps or teleports back from _that_ attack, which begins the dance all over again. After several seconds of this back-and-forth rhythm, it comes to me that the Hammer is too slow to hit the wasp.

I switch to the Ice Wand, and fire a bolt the next chance I get. It hits the wasp, and it shivers for a brief moment. I fire several more bolts, but the Wasp raises its sword up to block them all. Each bolt turns the sword more and more blue, and the wasp gets slower and slower. When the Wasp can barely move, I teleport forward. I grip my hands along the Wand's staff as I swing the weapon at the wasp's mask.

The impact actually makes a crack in the mask, but it also gets the wasp moving again. It slashes into my side before I can make another strike. I respond by thrusting the Wand's orb into the wasp's chest. My pain and anger flow through the Wand into a burst of cold. The wasp lets out a loud chitter as its body freezes in place. I smirk at the new ice sculpture I've just made.

A flash of glowing metal makes me jump back. I stare in surprise as Alice digs the Vorpal Blade into the frozen wasp. The mask shatters first, and then the robe breaks apart. The guts come last; I repress a shudder as I see them wriggle and twitch as they fall, like they're still alive.

"You were having more trouble than I suspected," Alice comments as she wipes the Vorpal Blade clean on a red ribbon. "I thought you were better than this at close range."

"It's not my fault," I shoot back, instantly defensive of my skills. "I just… I'm not used to enemies that move so quickly. These wasps are fast, precise. I haven't dealt with that before. I'm going to need a better melee weapon to properly handle them."

"We'll get there when we can," Alice states as she drops the bloodstained piece of cloth to the ground. "For now, just stick by me when these 'Samurai Wasps' come around; their swords can block my Pepper Grinder's shots, but it keeps them distracted. They won't slice at you when you're with me."

She pauses after this, and then continues with, "You know, your robe doesn't look damaged at all." I know that isn't true, so I look myself over. To my surprise, my robe _is_ undamaged; fully stitched up, no trace of blood. Is this the work of my mists, or some other force from this place? Caterpillar, maybe?

Wait, why am I questioning this? Wonderland, from what I've seen, is a place where logic has no real power. So, I shouldn't be confused by magically-regenerating robes, and the like, right?

I shake my head to clear this confusion from my mind, and follow Alice through yet another _torri_ gate. Maybe we'll face more of these 'Samurai Wasps', and I can test my fighting ability again.

* * *

A honeycomb wall soon blocks our path, and Alice smashes it to bits. We then stand before a small gap, with an upper path to another _torri_ gate. We use a floating pillar to reach a fish-chain statue, and Alice goes to the statue to pull the chain down. I look back from where we were to see the stone pillar move up for us to reach that upper path. We get up there, walk through the _torri_ , and step into another charred group of houses.

Six Samurai Wasps stand around some kind of bronze shrine in the center of the area. We freeze just under the _torri_ , and the insects don't seem to notice us. I look to Alice and summon the Ice Wand as an idea forms in my head. She looks at the weapon, then the wasps, then at me, with slow movements. Then, she gives a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat, and nods.

We take a few quiet steps forward. The wasp's chittering sounds like quickly-spoken whispers as I channel the Wand's cold into a large sphere. I then point the Wand at the closest Wasp, and let the sphere fly. The Wasp turns into a block of ice the moment the sphere hits it. The other five jump back, notice us, and scream in chitters and hisses as they fly rapidly towards us.

I put all my current strength into my next attack as I hear the Teapot Cannon bubble and gurgle. I wait until the Wasps are within striking distance before I release the Wand's magic with the word, " _Freeze_!"

The Wasps can't dodge the arc of cold I unleash. All five of them turn shades of blue, and fall to the ground. I slump to my knees a second later, too weak to move. Luckily, Alice shoots them all with tea grenades, and I hear the _hiss_ of boiling-hot tea impact the frozen Wasps. Alice then runs in and uses the Hobby Horse to smash one of them into broken bits. The others get up at the same time I do.

I switch over to the Hammer, teleport over, and knock two Wasps back with a powerful swing. The other two slash at my sides as they fly by me. Despite these new wounds, I keep my attention on the two downed Wasps in front of me. One of them uses its sword like a shield, but my strikes shatter the blade. The other Wasp doesn't fight back at all, which makes its death much quicker.

I turn around to Alice. The other three Wasps swarm around her. She drops a Clockwork Bomb from in her dress, and the Wasps freeze up. Alice then teleports back, and detonates the Bomb. All the Wasps lose their masks, but they're still alive. They charge towards us both, and I race over to Alice. We stand back-to-back, outnumbered three to two.

The Wasps dart around in a tight circle. Their buzzing rings in my ears, a constant whine broken only by their attacks. When one comes in, we block it, and then shove it back. They chitter and mutter as each of their attacks outright fail, or barely damage us. They grow angrier, less focused, each time we hold them back.

Then, Alice cries out, "Now!"

I swing the Hammer in a spinning strike, and bash the head of one Wasp clean off its body. I whirl around towards where I think the third Wasp will be, and manage to hit it with bone-crunching force. The kickback from this blow knocks me to the ground. I get up, and the Wasp doesn't. I look to Alice, but she's already dealt with the third Wasp.

I accept Alice's hand when she offers it to me, and she pulls me up with surprising strength. I catch my breath as Alice skirts around the area to absorb any dropped collectibles. She then beckons me over to a large piece of Ming pottery with a blue flower drawn on it. It turns out there's a keyhole hidden behind the pottery piece, which we both travel through to reach a small cavern with a small stone face, and a Pris memory.

" _Certain smells are one-off,_ " the aging nurse speaks after Alice touches the memory. " _You'd never mistake burning human flesh for roasting a lamb chop._ "

Alice mutters something I can't hear in response, and we go back through the keyhole without another word. The far end of this area has another large gap, a few stone lions to our right.

Alice shrinks down, and I follow suit. We both see a path of invisible platforms we can use to cross the gap. As Alice takes her first steps, the statues spit out streams of fire from their mouths. We both stop, and watch what will happen. The statues spit fire in a quick sequence, from the farthest away to the closest. I shrink down again to double-check the path; it goes right by these flame-spitting statues.

When I grow back to normal, Alice sprints forward. I follow a moment later, and the fire doesn't touch us at all.

Once we reach the next cliff, we find yet another gap with pillars and a few floating tiles. Alice smashes another honeycomb wall, and finds a fish-chain inside. When she pulls it down, the pillars and tiles before us rearrange themselves. The new arrangement lets us jump up to the next, higher, space.

* * *

Another _torri_ is here, but the Cheshire Cat appears on a small rock next to the gate before we go in.

"She who saves a single soul saves the universe," the Cat says to Alice. "Remember?"

Alice nods as I shake my head. The Cat doesn't speak to me before he vanishes, but I feel I should know what that phrase meant. Maybe we're going to have the chance to save someone? A sort of payment for the deaths we've already seen in the villages below?

It turns out that isn't the plan. The village we enter has a large golden object in the center that my mind calls an 'urn'. White smoke flows out of its top, in contrast to the burning house's black smoke. Four Samurai Wasps notice us, and draw their swords. I draw the Ice Wand in turn, and Alice draws the Vorpal Blade as the Wasps split into two pairs.

Two Wasps come at me. I take a defensive stance against their strikes, and use the Wand's staff to block their swords. The Wand's surface is too dense for the swords to slice it in half; they just bounce off without effect. However, their attacks keep me on the defensive.

After several seconds, the Waps skitter back with raised swords. I channel some the Wand's cold into my shaking hands. The chill calms me down, and my hands move on their own. I twirl the Wand around and around my body like a staff. I end with the Wand's orb pointed at the Wasps, a challenge for them to come at me.

The Wasps hiss at me, and then one charges forward with sword raised high. I duck down before its attack hits, and stab the Wand's front end into its chest. I then fire a blast of cold straight into the insect's body. The close contact freezes the bug completely, and I have to kick it to pull my weapon out. Dark red blood coats the Wand's tip as I direct my gaze at the second Wasp.

This Wasp lets out a long whine as it looks at its frozen comrade. A second later, it's in my face. It slashes at my chest again and again, and I teleport away with a few cuts. I fire bolts of ice back, which it blocks with its _katana_. After several bolts get absorbed, the Wasp drops its frozen sword with a sharp hiss and shaking hand. I take this chance to switch to the Hammer, and teleport as close as I can. I swing the Hammer over my head, and slam the bug down into the ground. Four more swings break its head open.

I turn to face Alice, and something entirely new drops down from the sky. It's a Wasp, twice as large as the Samurai Wasp. It wears gray full-body armor, a large gray mask with yellow crescent moon and horns, a large bladed weapon in its hands. A large yellow flag with four black stars as an emblem is strapped to its back, and a smaller circle on its chestplate has the same color and emblem. I can't get any more details before this giant wasp jumps up while yelling out some kind of battle cry.

This Wasp spins its weapon several times in the air, and then slams it down facing us. The ground cracks and breaks under beams of white-hot light that burn through my robe and skin. I cry out as I fall to the ground. Instinct makes me roll to the side, and jump back up, as I hear the Grinder's rapid fire. The spice just _pings_ off of the Wasp's armor with no effect. A second later, the Wasp spins its weapon in a circle to further shield itself.

I run behind the Wasp, and fire ice bolts into its back. These turn parts of its armor blue, and also get its attention. I teleport back as soon as it advances towards me, but it quickly catches up to me. I raise my left arm to defend myself from a smashing blow, but I still get thrown back. I moan in pain, my arm certainly broken. My mists coil around the arm, but their cold doesn't really help. I crawl to the far end of the area with quick breaths.

The Teapot Cannon _hisses_ , and then _splooshes_ out a grenade. The large Wasp grunts in a deep voice. I roll onto my back, and see the Wasp slash at Alice with its weapon. Alice's head snaps to one side with a loud _crack_ , and she spins around without any control. Amazingly, she remains on her feet, her neck not broken to bits. She even fires another tea-grenade a few moments later.

The grenade knocks off the Wasp's mask, and it falls to its knees. Tiny stars dance around its head, and its bright red eyes blink as it clutches its weapon. Alice switches to the Hobby Horse, and deals it two brutal blows to the face. It then jumps up with another long cry. Alice backsteps out of the way as she switches back to the Cannon.

The Wasp strikes down, and the burning light doesn't hit Alice. Her grenade shot melts away some of the armor on the wasp's shoulder. I take a deep breath as the Cannon starts to charge again. I snap my eyes open when the Cannon gives a loud _gurgle_.

"Damn it!" Alice shouts out, "Cannon's overloaded!"

I flash back to the last time this occurred, and jump to my feet. Pure desperation makes me move, draw my Hammer, and thumb the switch. The familiar _throb_ flows through my body, adds to my speed. My mists help me jump up to the Wasp's face, and I slam the Hammer's business end right into its mandibles. The Wasp roars in pain as I hear the _crack_ of bones, and land on my feet.

Alice stands to my right, the right side of her face covered in blood. She holds the Cannon steady, and it charges up again. She launches the grenade a second later, and I hear it _whoosh_ as it passes me by. I turn in time to see the tea splatter all over the Wasp's face.

The right side of its face is already broke and bleeding, and the grenade's scalding liquid only adds to the damage. The Wasp slumps to the ground again, its head hanging low. Alice teleports by me, Hobby Horse now in her hands. She slams the heavy end into this foe's face, over and over. I summon the Hammer, and join her. Blood, mandibles, skin, and other fleshy bits splatter over my body as we beat this Wasp down.

* * *

I stop when I see there's nothing solid left to smash. I stumble back with the Hammer against the ground, like a third leg. Teeth and rose petals fly into Alice's body as she takes several deep breaths. She is drenched in blood, only some of it her own.

"Nice work," she finally says. "I'll scout around for a moment."

I can only nod. I feel too tired to do much else. I slowly rub my broken arm, and realize it isn't broken anymore.

I hear a Snout sneeze from somewhere nearby, and a large brown gateway opens up. A long set of straight stone steps, lead up to a large wooden building. This building is still intact. Several ants in monk robes walk up and down the steps. Their faces are blurred over. I blink to see them more clearly, but they suddenly vanish. I rub my eyes, and they're still gone.

A cold tingle runs down my spine. How much of this place do I actually remember? Alice comes back after I spend about a minute thinking about this, and don't come up with a solid answer. Alice is no longer covered in blood, thank goodness.

"Found another breadbasket over there," she comments with a small smile. That smile fades as she sees my current expression. She then asks, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing," I reply with my hands in front of me. "Just thought I saw something, when that wasn't the case." I then try to change the subject, and turn to the giant wasp's corpse with the question, "What did that Wasp have on it, anyway?"

Alice doesn't respond for a moment, but she eventually does explain each part of the wasp's items to me: "That Wasp wore full-fledged samurai armor, rather than the simple robes those Samurai Wasp have. It reminds me of the _daimyo_ , Japanese warriors who were second only to the _shogun_ in command rank. I think that's a good name, actually; 'Daimyo Wasp'." Alice looks to me for confirmation on this name, and I shrug my shoulders in response.

She continues with, "The _daimyo_ were lords in their own right, and had fighting skills to back it up. That mask it wore was a _kabuto_ , designed to intimidate and terrify foes because of its fearsome appearance. That _kabuto_ had a crescent moon as its _maedate_ , or front crest, which extended into two yellow horns. I've never seen that design before. The emblem on its flag is a simple one; four black _shuriken_ , throwing stars used by ninjas for silent assassinations.

"The Wasp wielded a _naginata_ , a polearm with a curved blade at the far end. It's similar to a European glaive; slower than a sword in speed, but with much more power in its strike. That Wasp could certainly use it correctly." Alice rubs her neck as she says this last bit.

"Thanks for the explanation," I say after I look over the Daimyo's corpse and note all that Alice has said. "Now, let's move on up this gate." I point a thumb to the gate behind us, and Alice turns to notice us.

I hear her mutter, "A shrine?" as I turn around, but I don't ask her about it. We enter through the gate, and it shuts behind us as we start up the steps. A few mangled ant bodies lie on the stone, their red blood a stark contrast to the gray rock. They wear brown robes, their paper-like skin a pale white.

"Origami Ant monks," Alice mutters as she looks one of the corpses over. "So, these are who Caterpillar spreads his teachings to."

I try to say something in response, but my throat locks up under a feeling of pity for these creatures. Did those Wasps kill them, before we got a chance to help?

It's strange, actually. The more I look at these Ants, the more I feel like I should know them. But, I can't recall anything about them from what remains of my memories. So, I stay silent as we move to a large inner room. Several living Origami Ants are in front of us, around the bronze statue of some giant ant. A small golden lizard floats above the statue; a _dragon_ , my subconscious says, a legendary mythological creature.

The Ants notice our arrival with beady black eyes. The males have long antennae, while the female ants have their orange hair tied tightly into buns. Some of the Ants lie on the ground, weakened or wounded. I move a bit behind Alice as she strides into the shrine's wooden floor and walls. The Ants instantly start whispering, but their words quickly turn into happy exclamations.

"Is she the Chosen One?" One Ant with a large hat over its head asks to the Ants around him.

"Yes!" One of the robed Ants says this. "Our Savior!"

"Our Benefactor!" A few others cry together. Then, they notice me, and their excitement only increases.

"The Student has returned!" the hat-wearing Ant loudly declares as he looks at me. "The Great Warrior is here!"

 _Great Warrior_? I don't feel the least bit 'great' against this many creatures looking at me at once! Did they see our fighting the Daimyo outside this shrine? I try to speak up, but my throat is still locked up by rampant emotions.

"We're on a mission of great importance," Alice announces to the crowd. "Please, don't distract us from our tasks, or your own."

The Ants instantly back down with embarrassed looks, as if they spoke out of turn. Alice pulls me to the left side of the shrine, and the Ants in our way make room for us. Alice smashes through a honeycomb wall, which reveals a small windowed room with a view of the steps we just walked up.

A Pressure Pad is here, too, and Alice tosses a Clockwork Bomb onto it. I turn back inside to see a section of the wall lower down into the floor. I join Alice in moving over there, and she detonates the Bomb once we're both on the space, and we rise to the same space as a Liddel memory.

" _We'll keep just the one lamp, Alice—as a night-light,_ " Mrs. Liddel states with a tone like she's just been through a big argument with Alice. " _But it stays in the upstairs hall, and only until you turn 12._ "

Alice smirks at this, but says nothing as she jumps back down to the floor. I follow suit, the shrine's floor oddly comfortable to my feet. Again, I really feel like I've been here before, but I don't have a clue as to how, or why.

"Speak with the Elder!" One weary Ant advises us as we pass him lying against the wall.

"Yes, you really must!" A second Ant agrees from the opposite wall with a brighter voice.

"He knows things…" the first one states.

"He even thinks things!" The second dramatically finishes as we step out to a small clearing behind the shrine.

* * *

A fountain is here, and I catch a path through stalks of what I instantly recognize as 'bamboo'. Alice notices it, too, and we take a look. We almost instantly hear the oinks of a Snout, but there isn't one in sight when we arrive at another small cliff. Alice shrinks down into a nearby Violet, and instantly draws the Pepper Grinder to shoot into an invisible Snout when she steps out. I step back from the spice's aroma, glad to see Alice's face doesn't look wounded anymore, and wind up next to another statue.

This one shows a beautiful woman with black hair tied into a bun, small closed eyes that leak red blood against her gray marble body, and a robe that barely covers her full breasts. I feel my cheeks grow hot as I remember the red-dressed woman from the Mangled Mermaid. I look away from the woman as the invisible Snout sneezes. A breadbasket appears at my feet, which Alice quickly chops up for a bottle.

"I didn't think you'd be so attracted to a _geisha_ , Kyle." Alice cheekily comments with a raised eyebrow. I raise my lips into a warning growl at Alice's attitude, which she accepts with a small chuckle.

"Well," she continues as she looks at the statue. "Your reaction is only natural. From what I read about Japanese society, _geisha_ are the entertainers in lavish households. They know many different forms of art, dance, and even sexual innuendos. However," she finishes with a twinkle in her eye, "they never have sex with their guests."

"You could have just said that last bit first, you know." I mutter as my eyes flicker back to the statue. The woman looks quite sad, but that sadness only seems to strengthen her beauty. I eventually force my eyes away, and follow Alice back through the bamboo path. Once we reach the fountain, we take a right to a path of shifting tiles with women's faces drawn on them. We cross these tiles, and land down into a large space.

* * *

A large wooden gate blocks our path, like the gate in front of the shrine. I feel my heart sink as I see another three-by-three puzzle before us. Once again, four pieces are outside the puzzle's borders. Before we can collect them, though, we both hear the sounds of something walking up to a rock face nearby.

We both look up and see an Origami Ant with a thick white beard, and bushy white eyebrows, against his equally-white skin. He wears a green robe and hat, which help him blend into the surrounding greenery. This Ant might be the 'Elder' we were told to find and speak to. I wonder what he knows?

"Your victories in combat, and conundrums, suggest your fitness to confront the challenges ahead." The Elder seems calm as he says this, like he's used to saying these kinds of words. He then points to the puzzle as he says, "Mental strength will confirm your worthiness, or declare your defeat."

I place a hand to my face, and rub away the pointlessness I feel about this puzzle. Why do we have to solve this to continue? The pieces are probably going to be guarded by enemies that we'll have to fight, and that won't help our mental strength at all. The feelings I had in the Deluded Depth's puzzle with the Musical Bottlefish return as the four outside pieces vanish before our eyes.

"Let's get going, Kyle," Alice tells me. "The sooner we find the pieces, the sooner we can move on. You take the left, and I'll take the right."

I don't argue, since one of the pieces is literally in the same area, just hidden by some shadows. I walk over and touch it, and it reappears back beside the puzzle. I then jump up to a rock space at the back end, and smash through a honeycomb wall with the Hammer. This leads to a small cavern that's lit by a single orange torch.

The piece is at the far back end, and nothing stops me from going over and touching it. I come back to the puzzle space, and the second piece is there. The Elder Ant watches my every move.

I walk over to the puzzle space, and start to look over the puzzle's design. It looks like the puzzle is supposed to show a dragon, but the pieces are all out of place. The Elder doesn't look away from me; I feel his gaze like an irritating burn. So, I eventually have to speak up.

"Is something wrong, Elder?" I ask as I straighten my back from my observation of the puzzle. "I know you're watching me." He doesn't respond.

"Listen," I then say as an idea forms in my mind. "Your constant staring is breaking my concentration. I thought you said you wanted to test our 'mental worthiness'. How can I do that with distractions?" He doesn't respond.

"That's it!" I almost shout at the Elder as I angrily jab a finger at him. "What the hell do you want from me that's so important?"

"It's what _you_ want that's important, Great Warrior." I frown as the Elder finally starts to talk. "You may not remember us, but instinct is never forgotten. I see through your veiled anger, your emotional shroud. Your instincts are still there… and they will be needed for your personal quest."

My arm drops to my side. A memory tickles the corners of my mind. The words 'personal quest' are important. I _do_ have a quest, one specifically designed for these Ants. But, that would imply that I've been here before, right?

"Do not stress yourself over forgetfulness," the Elder states. "I will remind you of what you are seeking…"

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. This 'quest' is something custom that I've made for the story. What will the quest be? You'll have to read on and see!**

 **As always, reviews, comments, and constructive criticism are appreciated. I hope you all are enjoying the winter season.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	24. Quest signed in Blood

**Hello, all! It turns out I had a bit more time before my travels then I realized, so I'll post up a chapter before I go. Considering I ended the last chapter on a bit of a cliffhanger, I figured I also had to resolve that cliffhanger before it hung for too long. No pun intended.**

 **Also, this chapter includes references to a beta-content character that is mentioned in this game's artwork book. Just letting you know-keep watch for it!**

 **In any case, let me place the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series, including beta content, are all owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games. The author owns their OC and any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

"As I just said, Great Warrior, instinct is never forgotten. An example is the instinct to fight, or flee, when facing a threat. No doubt you have practiced this during your battles alongside Alice. It is this instinct, so we have prophesized, that has led you back to us."

The Elder Ant's voice doesn't change tone as he says this. I keep my eyes on his beady ones, and I stay silent to hear his words properly. What he says sounds unbelievable, but it does make sense. I have used combat to carry me through different challenges so far. Also, these fragments I've gained from each weapon I collect tell me I've spent time in Wonderland before I can remember.

"So," I carefully say while the Elder stares at me. "If I _was_ here before, why is it so important that I'm back? Did I leave something uncompleted? Break some kind of rite of worship?"

"You have returned to complete the quest you have trained for, from the first day you arrived at our doorstep." The Elder Ant's words don't make me feel any better. "Caterpillar, the all-knowing and ominous, has chosen you to complete a quest that can yet save us all from destruction."

"Right…" I pause as I see the first of the two puzzle pieces Alice went to find appear by the puzzle.

"We suspected you would be doubtful of your true goals," the Elder calmly informs me. "Do not fear. We will put you back on the right path."

"What do you mean, 'back on'? How did I not complete this quest earlier? _If_ I was on a quest to begin with, I mean."

"Your quest was, and still is, very special. Completing it may yet help the great Caterpillar, and shower us with his blessings."

The Elder raises his hands to the gray sky above, as if Caterpillar lies beyond the clouds to deliver those 'blessings' at a word. The Elder then resumes his unmoving stare at me as he starts talking of my apparent quest.

"There is an artifact sculpted by Caterpillar, the imaginative and creative, back when Wonderland was first made. This was in the Happy Times, before our creator's great tragedy. When that tragedy struck, Caterpillar hid the artifact within this very Grove. It has been protected from prying eyes by time, Caterpillar's all-knowing wisdom, and the Grove itself. Now, this artifact is in danger of being found by the merciless Wasps that attack our villages."

I click my tongue at that last sentence. So, these Wasps destroyed those villages, and killed the innocent Ants. These Wasps certainly acted merciless against me in combat, so this makes some sense.

"So," I say after a moment's thought. "Is this quest some kind of race? Have the Wasps already sent someone to find this artifact?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The Wasp's Empress, known to us as the 'Three-Faced Witch', has already begun her search. If she collects the artifact, our way of life will be laid to waste. Even Caterpillar, the astute and instinctive, will be in danger."

"Wait, wait," I say as a dark thought comes to me. "If Caterpillar made this artifact, why would he be in danger if the Wasps get it? He made it, so he can certainly destroy it, and whoever tries to get it!"

"Things have changed since the Happy Times," the Elder replies as he lowers his head to the ground. "Indeed, they are far worse now. We trust that Caterpillar, the authoritative and noble, foresaw this terrible state, but does not choose to interfere with his creations. We believe he needs a champion of his cause, to what he believes is right for his land, and all of Wonderland."

' _That champion being me._ '

I clench and unclench my fists over and over through a mixture of emotions. My desire for remembering my past cries for me to accept this quest, like I'm supposed to. My conscious says I can't be too hasty; this quest sounds quite dangerous, and I can't die before I regain all my memories.

But, there's a third member of this mental dilema. A small bit of raw emotion says I should accept this quest, in regards to the Ant's suffering. They had no weapons in the shrine, or in any of their villages. The Wasps have armor, _katanas_ , and _naginata_ at their disposal. This is a one-sided fight, a war with only one clear victor. The Wasps oppress their power, and the Ants don't have the power, or will, to fight back for their freedom.

I clutch my head as flashes of blood, pain, metal, and terrified screams fill my senses. They vanish quickly, and I almost don't hear what the Elder Ant says next: "You are our champion, Great Warrior, even if you do not remember what you trained for. In addition, this is _your_ quest, alone; no one else can go with you."

I quickly understand what the Elder is saying, and I don't like it one bit.

"Why can't I get help?" I ask back. "If I don't remember everything about this quest, it's going to be much harder to complete it."

"We will help you as best we can once you resume your quest," the Elder replies, still with the same tone of voice. "But, you must take accept it yourself. You must accept your destiny as our Great Warrior."

My lips clamp shut before I say the words part of me wants to say. A larger part of me doesn't want this change, to be separated from Alice again. There's a lot of parts to this quest; find an artifact I know nothing about, in a place I barely remember, before an enemy I don't remember at all gets it for themselves.

I jump in surprise when the last puzzle piece appears by the others. Then, Alice pops into existence next to that piece. Her kimono has several slash marks along its edges, and there's a long, clotted cut on her left arm.

"Sorry about the delay," she says to me. "Two Samurai Wasps had the nerve to jump me inside a cave. There was a Pressure Pad in that cave, as well. Too long a story to tell right now."

She then turns her attention to the puzzle, and smiles at all the pieces before us. Those pieces then fly into different open spaces inside the puzzle itself.

As Alice and I look over the puzzle, I hear what I swear to be the Cheshire Cat's voice whisper something in my ear: "Line up this fire-breather from head to tail." I don't question this voice, since that does seem what the puzzle wants to look like. But, I do know that this creature isn't a 'fire-breather', it's a _dragon_.

Alice moves over a piece, and then I move a piece, and then she moves a piece. We continue this process, with one of us correcting another person's movement. Soon enough, we get the puzzle formed in the right image. The end result is an orange-scaled dragon breathing red fire against a white sky.

"You two can save us!" The Elder says from his perch with an actual change in his voice. "I'll open the path!"

He moves out of sight, and the large gate opens up a few seconds later. We go through, and wind up at the edge of another cliff. I use my Shrink Sense a few seconds after Alice. She spots a hidden keyhole, and we go through it. We find a Dr. Wilson memory inside a small cavern, swirling green lines on the walls. The memory is next to another _geisha_ statue, but this one has her robe hanging off one shoulder. Her bare breasts are petite, but she still cries blood from her eyes.

"… _She is certainly ill,_ " Dr. Wilson states like he's reading a report after Alice touches the memory. " _She imagines odd things. And she has a 'hero complex; an innate desire to help others, being unable to help herself, and a compulsion to make the world right. She's trying to unlock the true meaning of her life, and she doesn't know who has the key._ "

' _You don't know the half of it, Doctor,_ ' I think as I quickly glance at Alice. Her focused movements, determined expression, and the gleam of the Vorpal Blade in her hands all demonstrate her power. She seems greater than a hero, if she can make a world like this from her own mind.

After Alice collects all she needs, we head back out the keyhole to take a long series of floating tiles, and steam pots, to the next solid cliff path. The gray sky around us doesn't change as we move along, and no enemies try to attack us when we reach the second side. It's comforting.

* * *

We soon reach a large circular door made of thick stone. The image of an angry face is carved into the rock. The Elder Ant stands by the door. He looks carefully at us both as he speaks.

"The wicked Wasps lay siege upon us, and control the peaks from East to West." His voice sounds tenser than before. "You must defeat them to reach Caterpillar's retreat."

"I suppose we must go to the mountaintop," Alice replies with a sigh. "It certainly won't come to us."

"We believe that Caterpillar, the strange and wondrous, helps those in need," the Elder Ant explains. "One day, we'll have proof! Purity of heart is one thing, but honor matters as much as a life to him, and those under him."

I flinch slightly at that last bit, but cover it up under a deadpan look. At least he doesn't look at me when he says that last bit.

"To approach his sacred aerie," the Elder continues. "You must confront the savage Daimyos and Samurai who prevent our access to his power. I'll open the entrance to the Sacred Caves, where your journey begins."

The Elder then moves out of sight, and the giant stone rolls to one side. Alice leads us inside a dark passageway, and then we slide down to a relatively-small chamber with several stone faces that jut out of the walls. Those walls are above red balconies, supported by red poles so they don't fall down. A small stairway leads to a large, flat scroll, lit by bright torches. The scroll displays a beautiful painting with far too many details to look at.

"It appears this scroll is our way forward," Alice says as she walks up to the object. "Now, how to pass through it…?"

Alice starts to rub her hands along the scroll's edge; I turn my attention to the faces on the walls. The torchlight casts long shadows across cheeks, noses, and tongues. Their eyes seem more alive than I believe stone eyes are supposed to be. I shiver from a sudden cold, and feel a breath on my neck. I glance all around me, but there's no one nearby.

I turn back to the scroll to see Alice isn't nearby, either. I silently walk over to the scroll; maybe Alice found a door inside it? I get about halfway through my search before the scroll ripples apart like water. A thin female hand emerges from the scroll, pats my chest for a moment, and then grabs my robe. I gasp as it pulls me inside the painting.

* * *

My vision ripples like water as I breathe in warm air. My mouth and nose feel wet, and I taste water droplets on my tongue. The sky around us is a dim orange, rolling clouds hiding the sun from view. Alice stands before me in her Vale of Tears clothing. I look down at myself, and see I'm dressed the same style. We stand on a large rock, beneath a hanging tree. The tree's bright green leaves shroud us from sunlight. A sliced fruit—a _peach_ —lies near me. It looks so fresh, I instantly want to taste it.

"Sorry for the aggression," Alice says as she lets go of me. "But, you weren't moving forward, and we've got to stick together."

Her hand glistens in the air's heat; she must be coated in sweat. I feel sweat on my body the moment I start to move. My clothes feel wet and sticky, probably because I'm wearing a suit and pants. A robe would probably be more comfortable.

"Come on," Alice says as she jumps up to a higher rock. "We have to get through here."

I follow Alice with one last look at the peach. We move past houses and plants that seem centuries old, as if frozen in time. Then, out of nowhere, Caterpillar starts talking, or reciting, to us.

" _Regard this depiction of harmony and order,_ " he begins as we move by the buildings. " _The fruitful landscape encouraged industry, tolerance, and cooperation. Loving families flourished, happy children and dear friends. Grateful for their well-being, they lived for generations, secure, active, and free. But, a sudden onslaught of alien attacks broke their fragile bodies and nearly crushed their generous spirits._ "

Caterpillar doesn't speak any further. By this point, we've gone up a steam pot to reach a much higher rock-space. Alice slices open another peach along our path, and I see they contain teeth. Now I feel happy I didn't choose to eat one!

We continue along more rocks, houses and trees. The air is constantly warm, but the pace at which we move through the land keeps me relatively cool. Obstacles appear in the form of giant pillars with angry faces of humans and beasts. Some of them spit fire every few seconds, others crush in an upward or downward direction. These pillars are easy enough to avoid, or get around. But, I don't think these are the only attackers Caterpillar is speaking of. Regardless, they don't prove to be much of an obstacle. I just move behind Alice and follow her wherever she goes.

Before I know it, we arrive at the mouth of a giant dragon. There's no path beyond it. We enter it together, and step into encroaching darkness.

* * *

We step out of another rippling scroll, and into another cavern with grotesque stone faces and red balconies. The air is back to its former cold, and our clothes are back to their 'Mysterious East' garb. I look back at the scroll, and find it looks quite similar to the scroll Alice pulled me through. Alice quickly moves outside, and I rush to catch up with her since she's the more important thing right now.

We reach a large collection of square stone platforms, the same angry faces carved over and over on each side. Vines connect between the platforms down below, and the gray sky surrounds the entire area. A door stands in the distance, along with a large _geisha_ statue and another fish-chain. It seems simple enough to complete, but I suspect that we'll face a new threat here. Hasn't that always been the case on our journey?

The Cheshire Cat appears next to us, just as Alice points the Pepper Grinder at a nearby Snout. He offers a quick remark before he vanishes away again: "Only the foolish believe suffering is just wages for being different."

I suspect this relates to our Wasp foes, but I don't have time to make sure of this. Alice peppers up the Snout, which brings a steam pot up to us. We cross over to a nearby platform with a few brown pots, which Alice shatters.

A small keyhole leads to a Radcliffe memory, which Alice breaks open to hear his next self-serving comment: " _A dutiful, honorable daughter would commemorate her deceased family in marble. I know a gifted sculptor with who I might negotiate a commission._ "

"Duty never was one of my strong suits, Doctor." Alice spits at where the memory was. I stay silent to avoid angering Alice any further, and we head back to where we began.

A long, flowing scroll with more recognizable characters on it acts as a bridge here. A specific character catches our eye, because it glows red and spits fire. Alice says that's the Chinese character _huo_ , which literally means 'fire'. Makes sense, I guess.

We run across the scroll, and try to avoid the fire. This gets harder to do the closer we get to the scroll's end, but we make it through without a single burn. Just as we cross over, I hear a loud buzzing. Two flying Wasps in red armor, carrying a bow and arrows, come into view.

They both load arrows with burning spiked heads onto their bows, and fire at us. Alice's Umbrella proves useless against these projectiles, and I grunt as I feel the burning metal graze my shoulder.

I summon the Ice Wand and fire back, but these Wasps easily dodge the bolts. Alice fires the Pepper Grinder at one, and I focus on the other. I hear Alice hiss once in pain, and then the Wasp gives its death cry. I jump back as Alice whirls on her toes, and brings the Grinder up to the second Wasp.

The Grinder turns out to be very effective against these flying Wasps. It can fire fast enough to keep up with the Wasps. I launch a few ice bolts to keep the Wasp distracted, and the pepper quickly smashes through its white mask. It then takes a few more bullets before it lets out a choking cry and falls to the skies below.

We move to the largest _geisha_ statue I've seen yet. Alice slices open a few pots at the statues base with the Blade. I turn around as I hear more buzzing. Two more of these bow-wielding wasps fly towards us. They must be archers of some kind, which they prove by firing more arrows at us.

I dodge the Wasp's arrows, and leap to the fish-chain via a mushroom spring. Alice moves with me, and we take down the archers in the same style as before. They don't try any new tactics, which helps in getting rid of them. Once they're gone, Alice pulls the chain down. I keep watch while she does, and see a few faraway spaces rotate their positions.

We head back over to the _geisha_ , and then jump over to another platform with a second, faster-moving scroll. The character _huo_ still burns whenever it appears, and I get burned once by it while we run across.

When we reach the other side, a large stone circle instantly rolls to one side. Beyond the circle is a staircase that descends into a dark cave. Alice goes first, and we quickly reach a lower space with a pot and Shrinking Violet. Alice draws the Grinder when we see another Archer, but I stop her before she can fire. I silently point to the Archer; it hasn't noticed us. I draw the Ice Wand, and Alice seems to understand.

She heals up from the burn at the Shrinking Violet as I carefully aim an ice sphere at the Archer. The sphere hits dead on target. The Wasp freezes up, and falls to its apparent death. Alice smiles at me when she remerges from the Violet, and we continue down the staircase with no further interruptions.

* * *

We quickly reach a large gap; our Shrink Sense reveals a walkway of invisible platforms. Some of them move back and forth in sequence. We cross without any trouble, and get off by a smaller cave with a fish-chain inside. A few glowing motes of light on the walls reveal two Samurai Wasps. We get the drop on them with our heaviest weapons; they barely put up a fight.

Alice grabs a bottle at the cave's far end, and then pulls down the chain. When we step back outside, a steam pot is near the front end of the invisible walkway. We get back over there without a problem, Alice moving faster than me. The steam pot lets us reach an upper path that leads to an open space filled with large rocks, small plants, and the same gray sky as before.

Once we step into the area, two Samurai Wasps step out from behind the largest rock. However, smaller wasps float with them, with black liquid bodies. Their red eyes stare us down as they chitter along with the Samurai.

"Those darker insects are Ink Wasps," Alice almost instantly states. "I'll take care of them; you hold back the Samurai until I'm done."

I don't get a chance to protest before she teleports forward and to the right from me. She reappears before a large stone tablet that oozes with black ink, and blows it apart with the Hobby Horse. Then, she targets something I can't see with the Teapot Cannon.

I hear a hissing cry, and get slashed twice across the chest. I teleport forward, and whirl around with the Hammer, to strike back. The Samurai stay back, and something else dig into my side.

I look over to see one of the Ink Wasps bite my exposed skin. My immediate response is to slap it off me, and I end up punching it in the face. This causes it to explode into black ink, which gives me some satisfaction against the pain.

The Samurai cry out again. I swing to the right, and knock one to the side. Then, I swing back to the left and stop the other's charge. Finally, I let the momentum carry me into a jumping spin. With a quick cry as I thumb the Hammer's switch, I finish my combo with a brutal Hammer slam into the ground. The impact emits a shockwave that knocks both Samurai off their feet, and shatters their masks.

I run to one of them while it's still down, and pound its face into a bloody mess. The second Samurai slices at my hands with its _katana_ , which forces me to jump back. We stare each other down for a second that feels like ten. Then, another sharp bite on my side alerts me to a second Ink Wasp. I punch it off me.

Unfortunately, the Samurai stabs his blade into my chest before I can react. I cry out even as my mists flow around the wound. The Samurai forcefully withdraws its weapon, which only makes my wound hurt more. I stumble for a second, and the Samurai swings at my neck…

…but gets blown apart by a blast of scalding-hot tea. The liquid lands on me, too, but it doesn't hurt. All those damn Eyepots helped me resist the burning feeling of hot tea. In any case, the Samurai's body melts into a twitching mass of flesh, and I'm still alive.

A loud grinding directs my eyes to the far end of the area. Another stone circle slides back to reveal the next stage of our path. This circle is at the top of a small stone staircase. Alice's kimono is covered with ink blotches, and I see five broken tablets around us.

"The Ink Wasps spawn from them," she informs me when I ask her about it. "They're like the Bolterfly Nests we fought in the former Vale. You've got to break the tablets, or you'll get overwhelmed." She then waits for me to catch my breath and recover from my stab wound. Once I feel ready to move on, we briskly walk up the staircase and enter the next area.

* * *

This place is actually two smaller spaces, split apart over a large gap of gray sky and white clouds. A series of those white tiles with varying designs is to our right, and a Pressure Pad overlaps two of them. Before we consider crossing, two Samurai Wasps, four Archers, and a few Ink Wasps appear to fight us off. The Samurai and Ink Wasp tablets are on the far end, the Archers closer to us. All their hisses overlap into a sinister battle cry as they begin to attack.

I hear Alice fire the Teapot Cannon as I use the Ice Wand against the Archers. I see one tea grenade blow up an Ink Wasp tablet; they must be Alice's first target. The few Ink Wasps that cross over the gap get punched into bits. The Archer's fire is too strong for us to fight back, but at least the Samurai don't jump over the gap to fight us, too.

Alice switches to the Grinder, but it barely helps. The Archers don't move much, but they fire like a combined team. Alice and I have to fire as we run back and forth from the arrows. I try to aim at the same Archer she does, and we graudally start to weaken their numbers. I ignore the pain of the arrows that hit me as the Archers fall to our attacks, one by one. I don't track how much time passes as I dodge and shoot, dodge and shoot, over and over again.

Finally, the last of the Archers fall into the abyss below. I slump to the ground, and stab the Ice Wand into the ground like a cane to hold myself steady. The hisses and chitters of the Samurai on the opposite end don't want me to fight more. Instead, Alice jumps over to face them. She's outnumbered, but she still teleports and slashes amidst the crowd.

I eventually get up, and fire a few ice bolts at the Samurai. The bolts distract them long enough for Alice to gain the upper hand with a Clockwork Bomb. Once the Bomb knocks the Samurai back, she deals them quick and brutal deaths. Their bones crunch beneath her swings, and she doesn't give them a moment's rest.

I feel my mists flow over me as I slowly recover, away from the battle. Once again, Alice proves stronger than me. I feel a twinge of disappointment at this realization, since the Ants called me the 'Great Warrior'. How am I supposed to be 'great' if I can't stand on my own in a fight?

No, that shouldn't be a problem. I've eventually learnt how to use each weapon I've found. It just takes time. Maybe that's my problem; I can't adapt to situations as fast as Alice can. This is true in London, as well as Wonderland.

Alice's voice calls my name, and I look up. She beckons me over to her side of the gap. I slowly stand up, and jump over. Once I land safely, Alice points to a side path that goes off to the side of the area. I barely understand most of what she says, but the words 'Radula Room' grab my attention. She then turns back to me, and I see her eyes glint with a sudden idea.

"I saw how long it took you to recover from that fight," I then clearly hear her say. "You could try upgrading your Ice Wand, if you can."

"That's not going to work," I quickly reply. "I tried the same thing with the Hammer, back in the Domain, and nothing happened. What makes you think it'll work this time?" Alice frowns at my tone, but simply answers, "You never know until you try."

I roll my eyes, but go along with it, anyway. At any rate, it'll give me the chance to see how the Ice Wand fully feels. I've been able to channel its cold, but I don't think I can see its full extent. So, I stand tall, take the Wand in both hands, close my eyes, and focus my thoughts into making it better.

The Wand's cold instantly flows through my body. I take long, slow breaths against the chill as my hands grow colder and colder. Soon, the Wand feels warm to the touch compared to my body. I feel connected to the cold, like it's a part of me. However, I don't feel any change the deeper I tap into the weapon's magic.

Every breath I take feels like fire to my chilld lungs. My head throbs, and the cold just keeps coming without end. I keep my eyes shut tight as I reach even further into the Wand. There's just more cold. Endless, unchanging, cold.

This is wrong. Nothing can hold this much energy inside itself. I'll freeze up completely if I continue. I need to stop.

Panic, and common sense, kick in. I break my concentration, and rapidly gasp fresh air as the Wand's cold recedes. Something slides from myself into the Wand, as well, and I can't grab it back in time. My legs slowly thaw out as I open my eyes.

Nothing's changed, and I'm relieved for that. The Wand's orb glows a bit darker than before, or that could be a trick of the eye. Regardless, I guess I accomplished _something_ by doing this. I turn over to Alice, and she gives a brief nod. Her eyes look distant, though; did she even see what happened to me? Does she recall the time she used it, when it was the 'Winter Wand?'

"I guess it's my turn to make an upgrade," she says as she summons the Hobby Horse to her hands. "This weapon's changed dramatically with each iteration, and I do want to see the next one."

She then focuses, and then grits her own teeth as too many teeth to count flow into the weapon. A loud neigh comes from the Horse, and I shield my eyes from a bright light.

When I look again, the Horse looks angrier than ever. Its skin is dark black, its mane has segments of curled metal, and its eyes and nostrils are a piercingly-bright red. Its handle has several black pieces, like the bits of a spinal cord, and the ending segment is spiked. Alice gives it a twirl, and each eye streams out red dust.

"I like it," she comments. "Let's go test it in the Radula Room." I silently nod, and follow her down the path she told me about earlier. The Radula Room soon stands before us, open to bring us to new challenge.

"This Radula Room's probably going to have a fight," Alice states. "There seems to be a pattern to these places that switches between battles and puzzles. We'll see if my intuition is correct."

"It probably is, if you're so sure," I respond. "This is your world, after all; you should have some semblance of control over things."

"Funny," Alice shoots back with a surprisingly-angry glare. "That's not ever been the case. Even when I first came here, as a child, this world was too strange and chaotic for me to understand. It's suffered all the worse because of my family's death. I can't just go back and change it; I'm not _that_ powerful."

I mentally punch myself several times over for making Alice mad at me, and follow her into the Radula Room without a word.

* * *

We're now back on the giant table. The Mad Hatter and White Rabbit look at us with disdain. The Hare says his usual two bits, and then the Hatter shouts, "Kill or be killed!" I twitch as I realize this is another survival room. My healing won't work here.

Bolterfly nests drop down in the distance as Madcaps emerge from clouds of white smoke. I have enough time to draw out the Automaton Hammer before the Madcaps reach me and Alice. I stick by Alice, who has the Vorpal Blade in her hands, and attack in sequence with her. Each of us strike when the other finishes, whether through swings or stabs. The Madcaps can't get any attacks on us, which I like. It's kill or be killed, after all.

Once the Madcaps are killed, we turn to the Bolterflies. There are too many of them to quickly take out, and we get surrounded. Alice switches between Teapot Cannon and Pepper Grinder as either one overloads from her efforts. I use the Ice Wand's bolts to freeze individual Bolterflies when I can.

I eventually disregard the remaining flies, and teleport over to their nests. The Automaton Hammer breaks each one down as I get to it. A few Bolterflies gnaw at my arms and legs, but that's not enough to take me down. Alice teleports over to me as I take out the second nest, and fires down the Flies near me. She then turns her attention to the larger swarm, and keeps it occupied. I take out the rest of the nests without trouble.

A dull _smack_ rings out across the arena as the last nest crumbles. I turn to the Hatter as he pounds the head of his staff into his hand, over and over. I then look to Alice, and feel my face pale. A horde of Madcaps, and Bolterflies, is about to attack her from behind!

"Move, Alice!" I cry out, but a Madcap slams its fork into her back as these words leave my mouth. Alice stumbles, but doesn't fall down. Instead, she spins around and takes out the upgraded Hobby Horse.

Her first swing knocks two Madcap off their feet. The second swing shatters their helmets. The _third_ swing has Alice spin on her toes, and arc the Horse head over her shoulder. The Horse neighs loudly as its impact makes a small explosion. Both Madcap's bodies break to pieces under the force. There's still more enemies near Alice, and she still has that fork in her back.

I run towards Alice, thumbing the Hammer's switch as I try to mimic Alice's spin. The world blurs around me as I go faster and faster. I feel the _crunch_ of breaking bones, blood and metal fly by me, cries and screeches reach my ears. I let the momentum of my attack carry itself out before I stop. I fall to one side as I make one last swing, and then crumple to the ground. I cycle fresh air in and out, in and out.

Pepper bullets fly above my head as the White Rabbit looks at me with his right eye. I force my limbs to push up, and I see spots in my eyes. I turn to Alice just as she slashes through the neck of the last Madcap with the Vorpal Blade. The Bolterfly nests are now broken bits of metal. An air of stillness flows over me as Alice rubs some Madcap blood off her face.

We've won, yet again.

The White Rabbit says the same words as the last time we were here, and two Rose Paint vials appear before Alice. I move over to her as she touches them, and get to enjoy the sight of her wounds and scars fading from her body. I then blush as I realize how beautiful she looks.

" _Pitiful!_ " Hysteria's voice sounds like she's spitting her words at us. " _That's what you both are. You think you're on the right path, but you're only heading towards defeat. You may have painted this rose red, but the crop still needs to be harvested!_ " She then gives a loud, " _humph!_ " as my vision fades to black...

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. Kyle knows his quest, and he'll have to make a choice sometime in the Grove. When will he make it? How will he resolve this quest? That will come in future chapters!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, feedback and suggestions are well appreciated. I hope you are all enjoying the winter months.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	25. Flying Alone and Free

**Hello, readers! Here's the next chapter of this story, brought just after Christmas. A very merry Christmas to you all!**

 **I was actually hoping to get this chapter posted on Christmas, but time constraints, and traveling over the holidays have made things difficult. They may also make things difficult in the posting of the next few chapters. Just warning you, the next few chapters may not be posted on schedule. But, they are being worked on; I have some time in the holidays to plan ahead with the story.**

 **Also, this story will introduce some custom ideas! I know, that's a new thing! Just letting you know ahead of time, and I hope you enjoy what you find here.**

 **Now, for the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series, are owend by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final version of the games. The author owns their OC and any custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

After we arrive back into the 'Mysterious East', we move over to the Pressure Pad amongst the tiles. Standing on it causes the large statue of a smiling man at the back end of our path to rotate in place. A small hole appears at the statue's bottom. The hole looks large enough for us to enter, and Alice attempts to do so after placing a Clockwork Bomb on the Pad. I follow her over to the hole, and slip into a small corridor that seems to loop all around the statue's bottom.

I look to Alice for an explanation, but she just smiles at me as she detonates the Bomb remotely. The statue rotates to its former position, with us inside it. The door in front of us now reveals a small cave with a blue mushroom spring.

"Warn me the next time you do that," I say to Alice. "I thought we were going to be trapped in here!"

"Oh, please," Alice responds with a wave of her hand. "I knew that was going to happen the moment I saw the statue rotate like that. You really do need to make decisions quicker."

"It's not as easy as you think," I mutter as we walk into the cave. Nothing is here for us to collect, or fight, so we take the blue mushroom into blinding white light.

* * *

When the light clears, we stand before another large, multi-path slide. This slide's path is made up of white pottery, blue flowers and birds adding extra color. A few trees with bright-blue leaves rest on small stone spaces by the slide. The rest of the horizon is the same grey clouds as before.

Ruin patches provide obstacles for us to avoid. I also don't see any rails along the path's edges, and I certainly don't want to fall into the mist and lose the progress we've made.

Alice says a quick, "Let's go," before she jumps onto the path. She slides down like before, and takes the left path when a fork comes. I follow her, and take the right path when the split comes up.

I force myself to slow down as much as I can, but the Ruin patches still burn my ass a bit. However, these patches also bubble and hiss, which is new.

As I slowly slide down, the words of the Elder Ant's 'quest' come back to me. I feel pretty pissed off that I have to go on some journey that I don't entirely remember, and face threats I don't ever recall meeting before. I'm being pressured to do this, which I don't like… but a part of me _wants_ to finish it. It's some kind of paradox that I don't know how to solve. I'm not sure Alice would know, either, and that makes me feel even worse.

The end of the path comes up sooner than I anticipate, and there's no space for me to jump off of. So, I tuck my legs in, channel my mists into my feet, and launch off the path towards an oversized wood cabinet. The impact I make sends shockwaves through my body, but the desk doesn't look damaged at all. Alice just gives me a look before she turns her gaze elsewhere.

A few things quickly reveal themselves to us from where we stand. I can see a giant hookah at the mountaintop; Caterpillar's sanctum. A series of snorts directs us to a flying Snout near a large spire of rock. Alice draws out the Grinder and fires, even though we are quite far away from the Snout. To my surprise, the Snout actually gets hit by the pepper and sneezes itself into the sky. Stone grinds for a few seconds, but I don't see anything change.

Alice dismisses the Grinder with the comment, "The Duchess certainly has her uses!" I smile back, and then follow her over to a nearby Pad.

Alice drops a Bomb on it, and two drawers on a nearby cabinet open up for us to use as stairs. We do so, and cross the cabinet to reach a series of wooden bridges with thatched roofs. The bridges seem to hang on air alone. Will they break apart if we get on them?

It turns out, no; two Samurai Wasps walk across the bridge towards us just fine. Black smoke briefly fills the space where they appeared from, but it vanishes a moment later. Alice jumps at the Samurai without hesitation, her improved Hobby Horse in her hands. Once she lands, she knocks them both back against the bridge's railings with three powerful swings. I summon the Hammer and add in a charged shot from range to blow the insects into giblets of flesh.

I jump over when the explosion clears, and stop when I see Alice has Wasp blood and body parts all over her dress. I blush as I realize I made that happen. However, she just wipes her hands along it, and then moves on without any complaints. How is she this used to bloodshed?

I don't get an answer as Alice jumps off to the right, onto a stone platform. A breadbasket, probably left by the Snout we shot earlier, is there for her to slice. I wait for her to return, and no new enemies attack us as we cross the rest of the bridges. Midway through our journey, I note a fish-chain statue on an isolated platform, but the gap is too far for us to jump without some kind of platform midway.

We then reach two large stone spaces with angry faces carved into the rock. A set of small stairs connects the two together, one platform slightly overlapping the other. Several cries overlap each other the moment we climb the stairs to the second platform. I feel a twinge of fear as Samurai Wasps, Archers, Ink Wasps, and a Daimyo Wasp all appear around us.

We barely have time to draw weapons before we fight for our lives.

* * *

The Ink Wasps catch my attention, first. Alice had dealt with them by smashing their tablets, so that means more tablets should be around here. I teleport to the far end of the higher platform, and quickly spot two such tablets near each other. I smash them with the Hammer; each one takes one blow to break. I focus my gaze across the battlefield, and spot two more tablets on the opposite end. But, I've got to get past all the other enemies to get there.

I take a quick breath and teleport forward several times in quick sequence. Burning arrows, the Daimyo's _naginata_ , and one of the Samurai's _katana_ all phase through me as I flash by. Once I reach the tablets, I smash down both tablets as quick as I can. At the same moment, the Ink Wasps all latch onto me at once. It takes me a few seconds to smash them all off, which earns me an extra slash along the arm by one of the Samurai. I sprint to a safe spot, and drop to all fours to avoid the Daimyo's swing.

I glance to the sky. Alice is now against the Archers. She uses the Grinder to swiftly pepper them down one-by-one, even as the Samurai and Daimyo approach her. I summon the Ice Wand and fire bolt after bolt of frigid cold at the Archers. They slow down and turn blue, and I hear the Hobby Horse let out fresh grunts amidst the breaking of Wasp bones.

I keep my attention on the Archers. Each time one of them starts to move freely, it gets another bolt. I keep them all under control, because so few are left. Cries reach my ears, but I stay focused on my current goal.

The ground beneath me shakes; white-hot light sears into my skin. I scream in pain and fall to the stone, my vision nearly completely white. I feel the urge to Unleash, show my true power to these insects. They don't hold a candle to Alice's, or my, _real_ strength. I should rip them apart, humiliate them!

My anger cools, oddly enough, by a blast of warm tea. Warm to me, at least; the Daimyo standing over me yells in apparent agony as the liquid burns through part of his armor. The fear of death makes me get up, run back, and switch to the Hammer's melee mode. Anger takes over. I swing again and again into the Daimyo's armor. It doesn't matter that he's at least twice my size, he needs to die!

The Daimyo blocks my swings with his _naginata_ , blow-for-blow. Each impact makes a shockwave of air as we switch between offensive and defensive states. The Daimyo's size proves to be a weakness; I can dodge his attacks far easier than he can dodge mine. Even so, he uses his weapon's blade and handle to block my swings with expert skill.

Our stalemate is broken when the Daimyo suddenly howls from an attack I can't see. A telltale neigh reveals Alice is here to help with the Hobby Horse. With the insect distracted, I do a quick spin before I swing a hard blow into the Daimyo's chestplate. The insect falls back, and then forward as a second impact makes its mask fall off its face. I jump back as it slumps down, stars around its head.

Alice teleports over to my side, and we both deal blow after blow after blow to the Daimyo's face. Blood, bone, and goopy brain matter fly onto me, coats me in insect juices. I only stop when Alice and I start to hit the stone beneath us. I wipe my eyes clean with the back of my hand. My limbs heav from the strength I had to exert. Once again, we've won.

Then, I notice a tightly-bound scroll in what remains of the Daimyo's chestplate.

* * *

"Any idea what this is?" I ask Alice this as I walk over to the Daimyo's corpse and pick up the scroll.

She replies with a quick, "No idea." But, she silently beckons to open the scroll's silk thick rope binds. I hand the scroll to her, and she rips the binds open with a deft pull. The scroll rolls open a small bit, and Alice narrows her eyes at what's on it.

She stares for several seconds before she angrily says, "I can't read this. I know it's Chinese, but it must be in a rare dialect."

She then hands the scroll to me, for some reason. I take it, and look at the black characters written onto the paper. I see word after word, phrase after phrase, reveal itself to me. Each new discovery slams itself into my eyes; I have to blink to keep tears from streaming out.

"I… I understand this." I say this once, quietly, doubting myself. Then, I say it again, louder. "I understand this!"

"What?" Alice asks in surprise. "Since when could you understand advanced Chinese characters? You couldn't identify more than a few when we first arrived here. What's with the sudden increase in knowledge?"

"I don't know," I reply as I look to Alice's shocked face. "Honestly, I don't. I just know how these words go together, what they're supposed to mean."

"Well, then, read the scroll out," Alice insists. "What does it say?" I look back to the scroll and slowly read out the words. I enunciate syllables, and pause at key sentences, without knowing it…

" _Great Warrior,_

 _If you are reading this, then you have defeated the soldiers I sent to kill you. Congratulations. However, your little battle has cost you valuable time against me. Caterpillar's artifact will be mine, and this Grove will have a new Queen once that smoke-belcher meets his proper end._

 _I won't back down from a challenge. If we cross paths, I will kill you. My Wasps have spoken of your skill, but a mere child like you has no chance to defeat me._

 _If you choose to challenge me in this race, you must cry your acceptance to the sky. Someone will hear you. Those damnable Ants pop up everywhere, no matter how much of their hope we squash. Show me what you're really made of._ "

The scroll is signed with the emblem of three masks; one sad, one happy, and one angry. It must be the 'Witch with Three Faces', since this letter address the 'Great Warrior'. _Me_.

I look up from the scroll, and turn to Alice; she probably has some questions she wants answered. I freeze up at the blackness in her eyes, like the white-clothed woman from my nightmares. She looks as angry as when I fought with suicidal tendencies in the former Vale of Tears. I don't know how to react to this look.

"Let me guess," Alice slowly states, enunciating every syllable. "You're supposed to be this 'Great Warrior'."

I just nod, unable to speak up against Alice's intimidating presence. She lets out a heavy sigh and covers one side of her face with her hand. She doesn't seem to mind that Daimyo Wasp blood is still on her face.

"Tell me everything about this quest," Alice then orders me, her one uncovered eye holding me in place with its gaze. " _Everything_."

I open my mouth and tell her everything the Elder Ant told me. I include my own suspicions and questions into the explanation. Alice lowers her hand from her face as I talk. She doesn't clean up the Daimyo blood still on her.

* * *

When I finish, Alice stands still with her eyes closed. The unchanging grey sky matches Alice's unchanging expression as the seconds ever-so-slowly tick by. I keep my mouth shut tight. Soon enough, Alice opens her eyes and strides up right to my face.

She asks a question that I can't directly answer: "Why didn't you tell me about this quest when you first heard about it?"

"I didn't want to trouble you," I quietly reply. "You've got your own goals, anyway."

"And, you're absolutely certain you need to undertake this quest?" I flinch as I hear Alice's anger in her words, but I answer as confidently as I can.

"Alice, each memory I regain shows me more and more proof that I have spent time in Wonderland. It may have been a few months, or a few years, I'm not certain. The Origami Ants treated me with similar respect to you when we first arrived, and I'm inclined to accept that respect."

"Of course you accept respect," Alice counters. "Denying respect to the sender's face is one of the worst offenses a person can do." She then falls silent, which allows me to continue.

"Think of this in the long term Alice. We've been separated for a time in most of Wonderland's realms, and we've always found each other again at a later point. The only difference this time is that the separation will be voluntary."

"That doesn't make it any better," Alice comments. "But, I see what you mean. You could even consider your arrival into Wonderland 'accidental'. But," she then states with a raised finger. "Your memories seem to show that you are, in fact, returning to Wonderland. This world seems to accept you, in a way neither of us understand. I just don't like it when my friends leave me, even for a short period of time."

"Wait… you consider me a friend?" Wait, why did I have to ask that question?

"You show an honesty in your actions that doesn't really exist in London," Alice explains. "I know I need that honesty to be the best I can be, but a part of me doesn't want to accept that I'm weaker without it."

"But, if I go on this quest, I could be killed. This 'Witch with Three Faces' commands the Wasps we've been fighting. What if I don't survive against her?"

"Do you really think that you'll be killed without a fight?" Alice looks at me with angry eyes, and a dark smile. I don't need to answer her question, because I already know the answer. I may not _like_ the answer, but I _know_ it.

I quickly nod to Alice, and then walk to the edge of the platform. I take a few breaths, and then hold the scroll up in hand as I shout what I need to say to the horizon: "Hear me, Witch with Three Faces! I, the 'Great Warrior', accept your challenge to acquire Caterpillar's artifact. I will find it and save this Grove, or die trying!"

A loud _bong_ echoes in the distance just after I finish. Then, a bit of stone grinds open near where I stand to reveal a set of stairs. These stairs go down into a dark passageway, curling around some unseen pillar. I look to Alice, and she gestures to the stairs without a word. I enter the hole in the same silence.

* * *

The stairs wind down, down, down, seemingly without end. The light from above doesn't reach all the way down, so I take slow steps. I keep a hand on the stone wall for balance. Falling down them would be a terrible start for the 'Great Warrior's' journey.

The hairs on the back of my neck start to rise. Something pushes against my back each time I slow down. Did anyone come in after me? I want to turn around, but my feet just go forward.

When I eventually stop short to see if this someone will bump into me, I feel wrong. The strange feeling goes away, and I quickly continue. A few minutes later, I hear footsteps ahead of me. That makes more sense; someone had to have walked up these stairs in order to open the path for me. Maybe it's an Origami Ant leading the way?

A light comes from below me, but I force myself to keep the same pace. Soon, the light blossoms into an open doorway. I step through that, and shield my eyes from the new light. I soon make out small plants around an equally-small lake. The greens and blues are dazzling, and a fresh smell of leaves tingles in my nose. The leaves almost completely cover the sky from view, like a layer of armor against the air itself.

"Welcome, Great Warrior," a deep voice says from very close by.

I turn to see a tall and muscular Origami Ant monk. He wears the same robe as the other monks, but he certainly seems stronger than them. Despite his size, he looks at me without any sort of anger or hostility in his eyes. He won't hurt me.

"I am XiaoZhun," the Ant says in introduction. "The Elder tasked me with making sure you begin your quest properly. First, we must pray to Caterpillar, he-of-many-good-things, for his blessing."

I snort a bit at the monk's description of Caterpillar—he seems to know about the Elder Ant's constant descriptions of the wise insect. Even so, I follow XiaoZhun by the side of the lake.

We soon reach a small shrine, consisting of a bowl with several smoking sticks placed in front of the carved image of Caterpillar. The monk clasps his front legs together and bows before the statue with elegant movements. My head pounds as I kneel down onto the grass beneath us and bow my head. Words come to me, words I instantly speak alongside the ant.

"Oh mighty Lepidotera," we chant together. "Oh sleeper in the mountain, many-legged lord of the lake and peak, divine benefactor, protector of the frog and tree, on your humble ants look kindly."

We repeat this chant three times, and the pounding in my head changes into a calm tingle. I feel like I'm actually being blessed by something, as odd as that sounds. I don't even change the word 'ants' from the chant each time I say it.

When we finish, XiaoZhun silently guides me down a path behind the shrine. The grass and leaves around us form a tight barrier that forces me to walk behind the monk. A few droplets of water rub onto my robe and skin as I pass through the vegetation. I almost lose sight of XiaoZhun once.

We soon enter a small stone space with a risen platform. My eyes instantly lock onto the many red eyes of a large dragonfly that rests on the stone. The creature has brown-and-green scales, silver-tipped wings, and a long straight tail. It chitters to me the moment we make eye contact.

My head pounds once, brutally, as images of this creature come back to me. I see us talking together, eating together, traveling together. In short, I remember this creature as a friend. Its name comes to me a second later.

"Chouku… my mount…" I say this out loud, and the dragonfly's wings flutter in what I instantly know as happiness. I walk up to it without fear, and it lets me rub my hand along its scales. They feel hard, firm, strong. More images come back to me, and I bask in the memories for as long as I can.

"We kept your mount ready for your return, Great Warrior," XiaoZhun explains from what sounds like a mile away, when it's actually just a few feet. "The Elder knew you would come back to us, that you would complete what you began. Chouku has waited with the rest of us for this day."

I nod in silence, happy that a friend like this, a friend that I had forgotten for what feels like forever, still kept me in mind. It reminds me of how Alice seems to care about me whenever we take separate paths, whether by accident or voluntary choice. It makes me feel like I'm important, in some way.

I press my hands at Chouku's neck, and he bows his head for me. I slip onto his neck like I've done it a thousand times before. I grasp the sides of Chouku's neck, and brace my feet there as well. Chouku raises his head up, and I hear his wings begin to flutter behind me. A feeling of nostalgia races through my limbs, along with an exhilarating hope for what might be about to happen.

"Thank you, XiaoZhun," I say with a glance at the monk. He bows back to me as I press my heels against Chouku's neck. Chouku's wings buzz loud and deep in my ears as he takes off, a steady rhythm against the wind that rushes in my ears.

* * *

I hang onto Chouku mainly with my legs, and feel the air blow through my hair. Chouku's wings quickly reach a faster pace, and I have to lean forward to avoid getting hit by them. Other than that, I am free to see the sights around us as we climb higher and higher into the air. I resist the urge to spread my hands in joy at the power of flight, and settle for a wide smile.

We soon cruise off at a stable altitude and fly by a few rows of falling characters. I reach out to touch them, but my hand just phases through them. The red characters burn slightly when I reach for them, but not seriously enough to force my hand back. Chouku chitters urgently to me after a short while of my indulgence, and I let him slowly bring us back to the Grove.

A loud buzzing makes me tense up and look around. A few Samurai Wasp Archers, in the same red armor as before, climb up from the Grove towards us. I try to summon the Ice Wand to fight back, but Chouku makes a sharp dive before I can focus. I have to hold on as tight as I can as Chouku slips into a covered forest path ahead of the Archers.

A stream below us flows in the opposite direction we fly. Stone statues of lions and dragons rest along the stream's bank, their angry faces very highly detailed. I duck under a stone arch as we fly underneath. The buzzing comes back, stronger this time. I look back to see a squad of four Archers following us. One soon flies close to me, an arrow drawn and aimed at my face.

I summon the Ice Wand before the Archer can fire, and fire an Ice Bolt at its face. The bolt instead hits the Wasp's shoulder, but it's still enough to make it lose speed and fall back. Another arrow zips by my head to remind me of the other archers. If they can match us in speed, how will we be able to escape them?

An idea comes to me as Chouku dodges a large tree branch that pokes out from the canopy towards us. Once we fly stable again, I lean down to where I think Chouku's ear is and shout the plan to him. He doesn't give a verbal response, but I feel the muscles in his neck twitch in answer. I sit back up, and then cry out as a burning arrow lodges itself into my back.

I pull the projectile out and blindly hurl it back at the Archers. It misses them all. Then, I fire an Ice Bolt at them. That also misses. I turn forward as Chouku climbs up and over a toppled statue. The Archer's buzzing continues, as do the burning arrows that fly past us. Amazingly Chouku's wings haven't been hit by a single arrow, but I'm not sure how long that will last.

As we duck beneath the extended neck of a stone dragon, I cry out, "Now, Chouku!"

The dragonfly heaves its body up, up, and around in a long loop through the air. I clutch Chouku's neck with my legs as I feel my body start to fall off his body. Then, I have to hold on with my hands as we dive back down with eye-watering speed. We level out behind the Archers, who just manage to duck under the dragon's neck.

As Chouku and I pop up behind them, I summon the Ice Wand and call out, "FREEZE!"

I fire an arc of cold at the Archers, and it hits them all in certain spaces of their body. They all fall like rocks into the stream below, too cold to concentrate on flying. Chouku and I fly on, but the energy I used in that attack leaves me barely able to keep on my mount.

Chouku's wings flap at a far-slower rate than before. I look to his face and notice his eyes are glazed over. He must be tired, too; that loop must have been more stressful than I thought. I rub along the space between his antennae, as I used to do when I really appreciated something he did. He _thrums_ his wings with a surge of energy that rockets us forward.

* * *

The stream now starts to climb up a slope. The angle isn't hard for us, but I feel Chouku soon start to weaken over time. He drops lower and lower to the rushing waters, which makes me more and more worried that our attack tired him out. Thankfully, we reach a waterfall just when my feet start to skim the water's surface.

I give Chouku a quick tap on the side, and then jump off into the pool beneath the waterfall. The water is pleasantly cool to my skin, but I flounder for a moment when images of the stormy London waters come back to me. I break the surface and look for Chouku. Turns out he found a patch of dry land to land on safely. His body has a few burn marks from Archer arrows, but he mostly looks tired.

I swim around for a moment, easing my limbs to move after such a chaotic flight. As I slip under the falling water, I notice a large hole in the rock behind it. A cave, maybe? There's a faint, smoky smell coming from inside hole. Someone else could be down there. The Witch, maybe?

I swim back out for the moment. I can deal with all these 'maybe's' after the absolutely-certain things are resolved. The first of these is Chouku; I can't leave him abandoned where he is. I swim back to my mount to see him lie flat on the wet ground. His wings are flat against his back, his antennae twitching at a rapid pace. My memories tell me that this means Chouku is high-strung, and will need some time to rest and recover his energy.

"Man, Chouku," I say as I walk up to him and place a wet hand by one of his mandibles. "That was a nice way for us to be reunited, hmm?"

Chouku clicks his mandibles together in response, a sign that says he agrees with me. I rub my hand along the mandible while I look into his many compound eyes. The light from the waterfall is enough for me to see myself in them.

Actually, I _think_ I see myself; the person reflected back to me looks younger than me. There's a light in his eyes that says he's enjoying himself. I don't think that light's in my eyes, now. Not after what I've experienced in London's smoggy streets. _Certainly_ not after I've seen Wonderland be consumed by the evil Ruin.

"Listen," I say to Chouku as I break my gaze from his many eyes. "I found a cave behind the waterfall. It might lead me to the artifact, it might not. I'm going to check it out, anyway. You stay here and rest. Just be ready to come when I call you."

The logical side of me questions that last sentence. How can this dragonfly come to me when I call it, if it isn't near me? The memories of my time with Chouku tells me that isn't important. Chouku and I have been together for so long, we can recognize when the other is in danger. The other Ants call it a 'psychic sense' between us, one of the deepest of bonds. I remember myself simply caling it the greatest of friendships.

I hold my hand out to Chouku, and he rubs his mandibles along the limb. This should disgust me, but my memories remind me that this gesture is an act we worked on to show our gratitude to each other. It doesn't even matter to me that some saliva from Chouku's mandibles remains on my hand. It'll wash off in the lake, anyway.

I give a bow to Chouku, and then swim back over to the cave. The thundering falls fill my ears as I surface behind the curtain of water. Once I step onto the uneven stone path, the smoky smell from before returns stronger than before. Someone else has gone down here, that's for sure. It might be the Witch, it might not, but I can't just leave it alone.

' _Hope you're doing alright, Alice,_ ' I think as I start down the path. ' _I wonder what threats you're facing on your quest…_ '

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. Kyle's quest has begun. What will the 'Witch with Three Faces' bring to the table? Will the presence of Kyle's dragonfly mount, Chouku, be any help? Please stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated. I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season.**

 **Draconos is taking off... into whirling snow!**


	26. Facing my Fears

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter of the story, after the New Year.**

 **Just so you know, this will introduce some beta content from 'Madness Returns' that was not used in the final game. There are also some custom elements, like the dragonfly 'Chouku' that was introduced last chapter. Look out for some new ones in this chapter!**

 **Here's the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns the OC Kyle Zuclair, and any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

* * *

My eyes adjust quickly to the cave's dark pasageways. The walls are smooth, but the floor is quite uneven. I avoid a few large puddles with some quick jumps, and the walls bounce my footsteps back into my ears. It throws me off balance every so often, but I keep moving forward.

I soon see a light in the distance. It flickers against the walls, making wild shadows. It looks like there are a few people around the light. As I get closer, I hear several pairs of feet moving together. If someone else is on the hunt for the artifact, I'll soon catch up with them.

I move as quietly, and quickly, as I can. I only stop when I see what's carrying the light. It is a giant Wasp, surrounded by Samurai Wasps. This new Wasp is taller than a Daimyo, but its white robe doesn't look as feasome. Its hand clutches a torch that burns brightly against the darkness. The group moves together, the Samurai sticking very close to their larger friend. I keep up behind them, but not close enough to be seen.

Several minutes pass by, and the Wasps don't move any quicker. There's no way for me to pass them by without being noticed, even by teleporting. Maybe this new wasp is the 'Witch With Three Faces'?

Something scrapes along the wall. One of the Samurai jumps and stumble back from the group. The other Samurai turn around, and one of them lets out a short chitter. It draws its sword, and points it right at me. How can it see me?

The large Wasp now turns around to face me. It is a _she_ —a very beautiful, and deadly, she.

Her white robe covers a thin black body and a large red-and-black stinger. Three of her four arms each hold _katana_ swords, the fourth wielding the large torch. Her wings look brown and sickly against the torch's light. A white mask with a blood-red smile, and closed eyes, covers her face.

Two other masks float in auras of the same fire from her torch. One of these has white hair and screams in anger with a red face and rotting teeth. The other is bright green with a blue-and-yellow headdress and black horns, frozen in pain.

This has to be the 'Witch With Three Faces'. I'm sure of it.

"Ah, yezz," she says while making most of her 'S's' sound like a buzzing 'Z', "The 'Great Warrior'. Caterpillarzzz _prodigy_." The Samurai laugh mockingly at this, which makes me clench my fists.

The Witch then turns away from me with a command to the Samurai: "Deal with thizzz _boy_."

She then strides down the path without dropping the torch. I take a step forward as the cave plunges back into darkness. I hear the Samurai draw their swords and advance with short chitters. Then, one charges me with a sharp cry; I see his blade raised to kill.

I summon the Ice Wand and block his attack, but I barely push him back before a second one attacks from the side. I swing the Wand at it, and the weapon thankfully connects with the Wasp's skull. I then hiss as another swird cuts into my back, and I swing the Wand around me like a staff. The attacks come from all sides, and I barely see the glint of metal in the blackness.

These aren't good odds for me. The Samurai's attacks don't hurt much, but there's a lot of them. Are they toying with me, or baiting me to attack? If it's the former, then they're doing a terrible job at—

I cough up something as I feel a sword lance through my stomach. I resist the urge to look down at the wound, and just teleport further down the cave's path. I see now that they mean buisness. Time to go.

I get clear of the circle, and stumble away as fast as I can. The Samurai's buzzing fills the path behind me, but I keep focused on the path ahead. I need to get to the Witch, find Caterpillar's artifact, and complete my quest.

* * *

Time fades away as I run, but I don't slow down. Nothing distracts me from running, and that makes me feel… free. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I can get the drop on the Witch before she finds the artifact.

Some time later, the air grows thick in my lungs. Then, it turns into a thick smoke, almost like Caterpillar's smoke. I'm not sure this is good, but I don't slow down.

An Insidious Ruin suddenly walks into my path. I don't know how it got here, and I don't care. I summon the Hammer and pound it away from me. Another one comes in my way, and I kick it in the mask without breaking my stride.

A swarm of Bolterflies surround me. I spin to take as many out as I can before they sting me, and just keep running. The smoke sticks to my body like sweat. I have to breathe hard to keep runing.

Slowly, steadily, all the enemies I've fought in Wonderland come at me from the smoke. Ice Snarks gnaw at my feet while Drifting Ruin spit on me from above. The rattling of an Eyepot fuses with the snorts of a Menacing Ruin. Two Madcaps almost gut me through with giant forks when I dodge a Lost Soul's bombs.

I swap between my weapons as quickly as I can. I can't let myself get distracted for a second. Each swing of the Hammer, and each bolt from the Wand, leads into another enemy, another attack. My muscles strain, my limbs ache, my breath comes out as wheezes, and I still fight on.

I teleport away, but I get surrounded just as quickly. Panic takes hold, and I strike even harder against anything I can. I can't get hit once, because that'll leave me distracted. Then, a second attack will hit, and make me more distracted, which will lead to yet another attack…

Wait.

Have I been down this road before? This overwhelming sense of fear, pain, _emotion_?

Yes, I have. It didn't end well for me last time. Why am I going down it again?

What did Caterpillar say about this? Something about stumbling onto 'the eternal conflict between logic and emotion'? Am I fighting a battle I can't win?

I'm strong enough to fight, and run. But, is this all I can do? Is this how a 'Great Warrior', even one who doesn't claim to be so great, should act?

I break the skull of a downed Ice Snark, teleport away from an unseen Eyepot's tea ball, jump over an Insidious Ruin with a mist-charged leap… and stop in my tracks next to a Daimyo Wasp as it thrusts its _naginata_ forward.

I let it stab me through with its sword.

It phases right through me.

' _An illusion..._ ' is all I can think as the Daimyo suddenly vanishes with no further attacks. An Insidious Ruin claws my arm, but no cuts appear on my skin. I turn around and take a Madcap fork through the eyes, but it leaves nothing more than a light itch. A Menacing Ruin charges at me, _through me_ , like a strong breeze.

I was afraid of getting hurt. How stupid of me.

I raise my arms, and push out. The smoke vanishes without a sound. Green light comes from countless glittering gemstones among the walls of some underground cavern.

' _That smoke warped my senses,_ ' I realize as I look around this place. ' _It made me see my fears._ '

Was this some kind of test by Caterpillar? If it was a test, I don't know if I passed. I don't fully like his ideology, but he values logic over emotion. I did the opposite, and it got me nowhere good. Maybe his way is the better one.

I mutter a quick, "Thank you, Caterpillar," as a circular piece of a giant green gem carved in the shape of a man slides to the side. Darkness lies beyond it, and I step through it.

* * *

The darkness doesn't stay for long. I quickly reach a large hole in the rock ahead. It's too far for me to jump across, but there's a narrow path along the walls that encircle the cavern. Light comes from a hole in the upper reaches of the cavern that leads to gray sky. That light shines down on a large object held in place by several chains.

The object is a silver bowl with a large lid over it. Several holes on the lid leak smoke up to the hole. The chains connect to several hooks on the lid and bowl. The object itself looks similar to the small shrine that I prayed at with XiaoZhun, except this bowl is covered up. I look down into the hole, which is more like a pit considering how deep it is. I can't see any sort of bottom.

I think things through. The best option looks like taking the path for as long as I can. Then, I should cross over via the chains. The chains will have to be strong enough for me to climb on. If they aren't, I'll fall to my death. I _could_ jump across the gap to the urn, but it's holes don't look stable enough for me to grab onto.

I start to edge along the wall. The back of my robe rubs along the wall's rocky surface. A cool wind drifts up from the chasm. The smoke from the urn carries a sweet scent, like Caterpillar's smoke. Maybe the artifact's in there.

Another part of the wall blows open. The cavern shakes as I hear a loud hiss against the crumbling rock. The Witch comes into view, and she's hurt. Her three masks each have cracks in them, and her robe is stained with blood and dust. She falls over the thin path, but uses her wings to stay airborne. Her buzz sounds like a whine in my ears that I can't get out.

She floats over to me, and I we lock eye-to-mask. I swear her eyes burn into mine, but I don't look away. There's no one else to challenge us. I've got a chance to stop her.

I summon the Ice Wand and fire a bolt at the Witch. It hits her shoulder and turns it blue, but she keeps flying. I fire a second bolt, and this one hits her chest. She still flies closer to the urn.

"I've c-come too far to be denied, human," she stutters. "The artifact izzz mine. I will uzze it t-to further my legionzz of Wazzpz, and rule thizz Grove."

"What about the Ants," I ask back as I aim the Wand at her. "What will you do with them?"

"Their worzzhip izz what izzz killing them." Her wings flutter a bit faster as her limbs regain their color. "But, it is still a good rezzzource to uzze. I will juzzt have to change who they conzzzider their zzzupreme being."

"What makes you think they'll change? The Origami Ants praise Caterpillar's wisdom."

"Wizzzdom?" The Witch lets out a sickening cackle as she bobs up and down. "Wizzzdom doezzz not compare in the leazzt to power! To zzztrength! That zzzmoke-belcher hazzz no real power. He will fall before me. Zzzoon, I will be _Queen!_ "

The Witch then flies up from the urn, raises her swords to the hole above, and calls out, "Come, my pet! Kumori!"

 _Kumori_. The Japanese word for 'shadow'. I know this instantly, and then question how the Witch can call a literal shadow to aid her.

Instead of a shadow, a red-and-black dragonfly with a large bridle and leash around its face comes from the gray skies. The dragonfly screeches as it flies under its apparent mistress. She lands on its neck, puts two _katana_ into her robe, and grips the leash with her free hands. She still wields two swords.

"You zzee, boy?" The Witch laughs at me as she points a sword at me. "My pet comezzz when called, becauzze it knows I have power. It zzerves me becauzze I am the zztrongest. All Caterpillar teaches izz friendship and other such pathetic valuezz."

"Friendship is not pathetic, Witch," I shout back. "Friendship is one of the greatest values someone can have. My friends will help me more than mere servants, because they respect me!"

"Really? You think your friendzz will come when called? You think they aren't dizztracted themselves? You think they don't have their own agendazz?"

I grit my teeth as I resist the urge to fire a bolt at her. She has the advantage, but I think I can change that.

"Let's test that," I say. I then dismiss my wand, raise my right hand to the open hole, and call out as loud as I can, "Help me, my friend! Chouku!"

The seconds tick by, and there's no response. The Witch laughs at my apparent failure, and her other two masks move with her face.

Then, a shadow covers the hole. 'Kumori' looks to the hole and lets out a growl.

I smile as Chouku descends into the hole from wherever he previously was. He came when I needed his help; he's my mount, and my friend. Chouku flies over to my side of the cavern, and I hop onto his neck. I give the space between his antennae a quick rub, and he chitters back at me in what I know to be happiness.

"I knew you wouldn't let me down," I whisper into his ear. His antennae twitch back, which gives me comfort that he understands me.

"Thizz provezz nothing, boy," the Witch cries out as she switches her swords to her top two hands. "You will die before my zzuperior power!"

Kumori cries out as the Witch tugs its face up, and we fly towards each other. I summon the Ice Wand against the Witch's swords, and we charge towards each other on top of our dragonflies.

* * *

Our weapons clash as we fly by each other, and Chouku loops around against the pit's walls. Kumori faces us, and we strike again. We loop back around, and go again, over and over. The Witch almost knocks the Wand out of my hands at one point, and I stun her with an ice bolt before she can strike me from above. When either of us falters, the loser's dragonfly lets them escape a follow-up attack.

We are equal in strength. The Witch has her swords for close-range slices, but I have my Wand for long-range bolts of ice. Kurmori is the stronger and more durable of the dragonflies, but Chouku is the quicker and smarter.

The Witch's emotion change with her masks, which fly off and on her face with each shift in her feelings. Her white mask appears when she's away from me. Her red mask latches on when she strikes me, and gains an advantage. Her green mask attaches itself when she blocks an attack, or falters.

We both fly above the urn, and charge at each other. The smoke blinds me for a second, and I get a hairy punch in the face. I fall off Chouku's back, and thrust the Ice Wand forward enough to stab something in the chest at the same time. Then, I flail blindly as I fall through smoke-filled air.

I land on the urn's lid and slide down the metal side. I have to keep my eyes closed because the smoke makes my eyes burn and leak tears. My hands grasp at anything I can, and I manage to actually grab on the edge of one of the lid's holes. I turn my head away from the hole and blink quickly to dispel the water in my eyes.

"Now, my Wazzps," the Witch calls out as Chouku loops down to my location. "Finish thizz!"

My blurry vision lets me see several Samurai Wasp Archers fly into the hole, bows at the ready. I look to Chouku just before the Archers shoot one his eyes full of burning arrows. I cry out as I feel an arrow of guilt and sorrow pierce my heart. Chouku writhes and falls into the pit below. I can't do a thing to help him.

The cavern's walls echo the Witch's cackle. Her white mask is back over her face as she flies over to me on Kumori. One of her hands clutches at her chest, where I can see a small patch of ice. The patch melts away with my hopes.

"Kill the boy, my zzervants," the Witch commands with a wave of her hand. "I will fetch the artifact from hizz corpse!"

The Archers load arrows at me as I scrabble along the urn's metal. A wild idea comes to me as I move. Emotion makes me act quickly, fills me with strength that logic alone can't make in the few seconds I have.

I heave myself into the lid's hole, and fall inside the bowl. I land hard onto the metal. The holes give very dim light, and smoke fills the space around me. The sweet scent fills my ears, nose, and head. My senses become dull against overwhelming tingles. The 'addiction' makes me stumble and sway back and forth.

The urn rocks around with multiple _clangs_. It must be the Archers. The Witch doesn't care that she may lose the artifact. She holds no respect for this quest, no respect for her destiny!

My hands wrap around a wooden handle amidst the bowl's metal. My fingers stick to it as my eyes slam back into my head. A memory comes to me…

* * *

 _I walk alongside the Cheshire Cat. The sun shines through a thick canopy of leaves. Beams of light pierce the canopy and illuminate the debris-free dirt path before us. The air is warm, but not oppressively hot. I still wear the same white robe as before, never feeling the need to change clothes. We move at the same pace, just content with walking forward to our destination. Neither of us speaks, and I look at as many things as I can._

 _Soon, we reach a large grove in the middle of a pond. A small waterfall hangs behind the pond, the grove itself covered with small patches of moss or plants. Smoke trails from a tower at the grove's very top. The scent makes my vision swim, and I see the Cat's whiskers twitch in irritation._

"Hmm, _" he mutters as he notices the smoke from the tower. "_ I thought he'd have needed a few more days' to contemplate before he went into isolation. This makes things more complicated. _"_

"Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not there! _" I jump in surprise as a loud and aged voice says this from the tower. The Cat just grins, like always._

"Ah, _" he comments. "_ Good to see you can still hear in there, Caterpillar. You know why we're here, but I'll let the boy ask as many questions as he needs to. _" He then turns to me and says, "_ I'll be waiting for your return. _" Then, he vanishes onto the wind._

 _A few seconds of silence pass before Caterpillar's voice then asks me, "_ Well? Who are you? _" He enunciates each word with a puff of smoke from the tower._

"Begging your pardon, Sir, _" I reply as the Cat taught me to say. "_ I mean you no trouble. I am here on request of the Cheshire Cat. He said you could teach me a warrior's discipline. _"_

"Children do not often use what they learn correctly, _" Caterpillar states as the tower puffs out some smoke. "_ But, it is often best to learn things when you are young. The children here suffer from the plights of our creator. We suffer when she does, and we are dealt the worst of the punishment. _"_

 _I know what Caterpillar means. It's been a long time since I first met the Cheshire Cat. We've gotten along most of the time, but he's been on edge recently. I was angry in a test fight against him, and he criticized my anger. I wanted to keep it with me at all times, while he told me anger isn't always the answer._

 _Now, I've been brought to the wisest being in Wonderland to control that anger._

"I can tell you doubt me, _" Caterpillar suddenly says. "_ Why shouldn't you? I haven't proven my skill or strength to you in combat. I haven't outwitted you with mental clarity. People like you only understand things when you are pushed into the ground and forced to learn it. _"_

 _I bite my tongue at this insult. Then, I think over what I just did. Why am I letting this... thing speak its mind to me, if it doesn't know what I've experienced?_

"You are fraught with anger and chaos, _" Caterpillar continues. "_ This is a result of your violent upbringing. It is to be expected, and it can be fixed. These negative emotions can be replaced with better thoughts. _"_

"Violence is sometimes the only way to survive, _" I counter back to the tower. "_ You can't just talk to someone who's about to kill you. _"_

"That is usually true. However, the words you speak have just as much consequence as the actions you take. To learn a warrior's discipline, you must be focused in your actions, and your words, together. Only when you have these two aspects in harmony can you be the greatest at your task. I am certain the Cheshire Cat doesn't want second pickings. _"_

 _Again with the insults! I hiss through my teeth like I've seen the Cat do many times, and turn my head away from the tower in anger. But, Caterpillar's words sink in all the same. They make me think. Caterpillar_ _certainly_ sounds _wise, and the Cat did say appearances can be deceiving._

 _It seems the only way I can judge Caterpillar is by his words, and his reputation. That_ _doesn't seem so bad. After all, if he is the wisest being in Wonderland, then I'll have the best chances to learn the greatest skills._

 _As the Cat once said, it's a 'win-win situation'._

"All right, _" I say as I turn back to the tower. "_ I'll learn under you, if you are willing to take me as a student. _"_

"I am not willing, _" Caterpillar replies as plumes of smoke flow out of his tower and onto the ground. "_ This is only for the good of Wonderland. Now, let my smoke envelop you. _"_

 _I do as Caterpillar asks. The world around me turns a grayish-white as the mist wraps around my body, molds to my shape._

 _When I can next see, I stand at the front of a long set of steps. These steps lead up to a place of worship. At least, that's what I can figure out from the many ants around me wearing simple brown robes._

 _One ant, older than the rest and wearing a uniquely-colored robe, comes forward with a finely-carved cane in his hand. Two younger ants in the same robes as the others flank him as he approaches me. He looks me over with beady black eyes, and seems to like what he sees. He then raises his hands to the crowd around us._

"The Great Caterpillar, the magnanimous and caring, has completed his word! _" The ant's voice rings loud and clear. "_ This human is to be our greatest warrior. He shall defend all of Wonderland! We shall welcome him into our shrine as one of our own. _"_

 _Several mutters of surprise and amazement reach my ears. I feel my cheeks grow hot, but then the ants nod their heads and agree. A few even applaud. The elder then takes my hand and guides me up the steps._

 _When we reach the top, another robed ant gives me a robe of the same color to wear. I take off my white rags and slip the robe on, the fabric's texture smooth against my skin. The monks then bow to me, even the elder. I return their gesture with my best interpretation of a bow I can do, and the elder then leads me inside what he calls the 'shrine'._

 _Days go by in a blur. I spend hours upon hours in study. I learn various forms of discipline, concentration, and survival skills. I study old paintings and scrolls, and learn a new language. I train with different weapons, and learn the basics of full-fledged war. I learn how to fully sense my surroundings, how to react instantly to a threat._

 _One of my greatest achievements is when I make friends with the dragonfly 'Chouku'. I spend days hiking across the Grove to his nest, wearing only my robe. When I arrive, we engage in a contest of strength. He tries to nip my arms off with his mandibles, but I block, or dodge, each attack. After he tires out, I tell him why I am here._

 _He accepts my words, and comes back with me to the shrine. I learn to ride him, but not command him; fly with him, but not hinder him; speak with him, but not distract him. I become his closest companion, and he mine._

 _Through all this, I never once see Caterpillar in the flesh. I find images and sculptures of him, and the other monks are very descriptive as to how they think he looks, but it isn't the same._

 _I learn the proper chant for Caterpillar's approval, the daily rites for his praise. I do them, and embrace my teachings like the other monks do._ _Yet, doubt lingers in my mind, most often when I do meditations early or late in the day._

 _I realize, over and over again, that my time here is finite. Sooner or later, I will leave this shrine, and return to the greater Wonderland. Sooner or later, the Cheshire Cat will want me back, away from the monks who will live out their lives here in worship. That fate isn't open to me, now._

 _Will I be ready when that time comes? Will I want to leave? Will I be the warrior Wonderland wants me to be?_

 _Each time these questions emerge, I tell myself that, despite what I think, I am not ready. I still have more to learn, and I will do my best to learn it. I'm here for a reason, and I want to do the most I can for Wonderland when I leave. I still have time to become better, and I_ will _become better. I keep this certainty in mind as sunlight fills my vision to mark the passing, or beginning, of another day._

 _For my friends, mad and sane. For Alice, the maker of this world. For Wonderland, my home…_

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. Kyle now remembers his training as a warrior for Wonderland. How will it help him against the Witch and her Archers? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As always, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	27. A Warrior's Destiny

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter for you all.**

 **Nothing special to say here, but I really do hope you all are enjoying this story. To warn you, this chapter has a bit of philosophical bits included (some of which might be a bit strange at first). There are also some custom areas shown here.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns the character Kyle Zuclair, and any custom characters/elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I feel… complete. I don't know if this applies to a specific part of me, or an overall satisfaction. Regardless, I take solace in the current moment. Sure, there may be Samurai Wasp Archers firing at me. Sure, the 'Witch with Three Faces' wants to get Caterpillar's artifact in any way possible.

Neither of these issues upset me, because I hold Caterpillar's artifact in my hands.

I can tell what it looks like from just my touch. It has the same structure as Alice's Pepper Grinder, but it has several smaller holes than the Grinder does. A crank is at the back end for me to grind out bullets of incense. I also feel a small trigger that can detach the front end for close-range strikes. It takes both my hands to hold the 'Incense Cup', as I choose to call it, but it feels sturdy in my grip.

As I stand up in the darkened bowl, the outer urn lid cracks apart under the force of several Archer arrows. The metal breaks to bits as the smoke inside billows out and covers more of the cavern's space.

"Shoot it down, my zzervants!" The Witch's voice isn't reduced at all by the amount of smoke in the cavern. "I muzzt have the artifact!"

' _You're not getting_ this _artifact without a fight,_ ' I think as I crouch down and channel my mists into my legs. I take a long, slow breath and count the seconds as they tick by. Wait for the chance. Resist the urge to jump out swinging. Strike only when it is best to do so.

The months of my training come back to me as whispers of recognition among the wisps of Caterpillar's smoke. The smoke clears as I hear the buzzing of the Archers, as well as a small hum from further down in the cavern. Just a moment longer.

The arrows fire with loud _twangs_ of bow strings. I launch myself out with a mist-fueled jump, and level the Cup at the nearest Archer. I turn the crank, and bullets of incense fly out with a fast _phitt-phitt-phitt-phitt_. The Archer gets enveloped in smoke, and falls into the pit. I also start to fall back down to the bowl as I grind down a second Archer before he can move.

A screeching chitter directs my attention down into the pit. A bloodied Chouku rockets up from the darkness. His left eye is broken through, and his body has several scratches. But, he's alive. I twist myself in midair so I land on his neck; he moves underneath me as the Witch lets out a surprised cry.

"Kill them," she screams to the Archers. "Take thozze foolz out!"

The Archers fire arrows down on us, but very few of them actually hit us. Chouku guides me on a strafing pattern around, and underneath, the urn's bowl. I concentrate my fire on a single Archer at a time. I trust Chouku's maneuverability to help us dodge the rain of arrows that comes at us.

My trust pays off as Chouku twirls, climbs, dives, and spins in a wild dance. Once all the Archers fall, it's just us and the Witch. Her red mask is over her face, her anger clear. She sharply tugs on the leash around Kumori's head. The insect screeches as the metal plates around its mandibles pull them apart, and it charges at Chouku's neck.

Chouku drops down, and Kumori's jaws snap the air just above my head. I fire at Kumori's underbelly, and he arches his back up against the Witch's control. Chouku loops down beneath the bowl, and I resume fire once we see the Witch. She uses her _katana_ to block as many shots as possible.

Chouku suddenly surges forward with bared mandibles, and I can barely hang on. A sickening _crunch_ reaches my ears as Chouku digs his mandibles into Kumori's face. The darker dragonfly shrieks so loud I have to cover my ears. Luckily, the Witch has to do the same. But, she swings at me with her two other arms.

I dodge her swings as best I can without falling to my death. When a gap in the strikes appears, I press the Cup's hidden lever. This extends the weapon's front end out via a long metal chain coiled inside the rear end. The front end now constantly emits incense as I swing it over my head, and then at the Witch's chest.

The swing goes wide, and strikes Kumori instead. He writhes, and the Witch falls off the dragonfly. She takes flight by her own wings. Kumori tries to fly after her, but Chouku's bite prevents that. I clamp my legs on Chouku's neck as he shakes his head back and forth like a wild animal. Blood spills from his broken eye, and Kumori's broken face, as the Witch charges at Chouku with swords drawn.

I tug the Cups' front end back to me, and it _clicks_ into place for me to use at range again. I fire several incense-bullets to keep the Witch away, and my fire shatters the red mask apart. The Witch stops short, and then raises her _katana_ to block additional shots.

A few seconds later, Kumori lets out one final screech as Chouku bites off the dragonfly's entire left eye. The Witch's 'pet' twists without any sense of direction as it falls down into the pit. I look away as I see the Witch now wears her green mask.

"You… inferior scum!" She draws her two other _katana_ out as she rises up to my level. Her voice doesn't have the same buzz as before. "You aren't supposed to beat me. I've worked so hard to get here, and I won't have you take what is rightfully mine! The Monk Ants, and their smoke-belching god, deserve to die by my hand!"

"Caterpillar told me that all things change," I respond as I feel Chouku shake his head a few times. "Often, they change for the worse. This includes death. I saw innocent ants be left slaughtered by your 'servants'. Countless lives, slain just so you could prolong your own. You're defying the natural order of things, just to cement your own name in history."

" _Shut up_!" The Witch shrieks as she charges me with all four swords drawn. I fire back with the Cup as Chouku climbs up at a sharp angle. The Witch blocks most of my attacks, and flies back from Chouku's snap. I keep my aim on her as I grind out incense that shrouds her in the same smoke Caterpillar uses in worship.

"You make others suffer to strengthen yourself," I shout into the smoke as I keep my aim focused. "Only the savage regard pain as the measure of worth."

The Witch cries back a wordless response as she buzzes out from the smoke at a higher altitude. Her white mask still shrouds her real face from me. I raise the Cup and fire a few shots, but she darts to the side to avoid them. Her wings flap at the fastest speed yet, a whine to my ears. She easily avoids my fire, but I keep up the pressure as Chouku slowly rises to her new altitude.

Then, the Cup makes a loud _thonk_. Incense bursts out from the back end, and gets in my lungs, before I can react. I let out a series of coughs beyond my control. Chouku dives down, and I almost slip off his back. My eyes burn as I look around me to find the Witch.

Chouku actually finds her, first. I feel him surge forward, and the Witch's whining buzz comes from my left. I fire in that direction, but the same buzz then comes from behind me. Chouku wheels around as I fire in that direction for a few seconds.

My eyes clear up as the last of the Witch's masks fall away. Her actual face is actually quite beautiful, for a wasp. Her many small eyes are pure white, with no pupils to speak of. Her mandibles are long and elegant, and her small antennae twitch rapidly as she hovers in place.

The Witch locks eyes with me, and then clangs her swords together in defiance. Then, she darts forward with a spinning strike, her four blades swirling in a storm of metal. I fire at her, but she blocks every single shot.

Chouku dives down below the Witch so I can fire from below. But, the Witch keeps up without pause, a whirling storm of death. We rise up as I fire a few quick bursts. Each bullet gets deflected. I can't get a single shot on her. I'll have to get close to end this fight once and for all.

I tap Chouku on the head and slam my knees against his neck. He flies towards the Witch, and her whirling storm of blades, as I detach the Cup's front end. I swing it over my head once, twice, three times. At the same moment, Chouku bites at the Witch's arms. The Witch's blades slice deep into Chouku's skin as I swing at her face from above.

The Cup slams into the Witch's head with a bone-shattering _crack_. Her wings freeze as she lets out one final gasp. Then, she falls silently into the pit, into darkness.

I watch her until I can't see her anymore, silent in my victory. However, I also feel a sense of respect for the Witch. She was a worthy opponent, a fighter. Her motives may have been wrong, but she still pursued them with all her heart. I have to respect that, as a fellow warrior.

I look to Chouku. Up close, his broken eye is caked with blood, only some of which is his own. The Witch's blades have torn off both his mandibles. He hangs his head low, his right eye glazed over. I tap the side of his face, and it takes a second for him to react. Blood dribbles from his mouth as he tries to chitter, and fails.

"Let's go home," I slowly say to his eye. Chouku's wings flap a bit faster as he slowly climbs up to the hole above us. His wingbeat is erratic, without a steady rhythm. I fear the worst.

* * *

We make it out of the hole and back into the Grove's gray skies. I search the land below, but no landing space appears among the trees, rivers, and statues. We fall a few feet towards the ground as Chouku's wings stop for a moment. He then begins a slow loop down to the ground, just as I see a large, open stone circle.

"There, to your left," I call to Chouku. "A prayer area. We can go there to—"

My comment is cut off as Chouku starts to fall in that direction. His wings flap, but don't get any kind of lift. I hold on as best I can as we fall faster and faster. The stone circle grows larger and larger, the angry face underneath almost alive as I look at it.

Chouku hits the ground hard. I fly off his back from the impact. I roll over and over on the stone before I come to a complete stop. Blood drips down from my forehead, but Chouku is the greater concern. I get up and run as quickly as I can back to him. His wings give a few brief thrusts, and then fall still.

I reach his face in time to see his remaining eye look at me. The eye is clouded over, like all the life inside has left for better frontiers. The stumps where his mandibles were twitch in the same way we once did to show our friendship. Tears spring into my eyes as I look at my dying friend.

"Please, Chouku," I whisper as I feel guilt wallow in my chest that my discipline can't hold back. "This can't be it for you. Please, stay strong, for both of us."

I slowly, delicately rub my hands along his bloody stumps and broken eye. I don't care that his blood is now on my body. His antennae give a twitch, and a gurgling chitter escapes his throat. Then, his head slumps to the stone for the last time.

All I can do is lean against Chouku's face and weep. I let my tears echo my sobs as a new feeling comes to me—shame. I should have noticed his injuries sooner, but I was so focused on the Witch's efforts that I refused to see the damage in time. If only I had realized he was hurt, instead of focusing on myself!

I spend several seconds letting my emotions flow out of me, once again. Compared to the Vale of Doom, this is much more personally taxing. I don't move from my positon when a familiar _whoosh_ of air signals the arrival of the Cheshire Cat. He can't help me, here. He didn't have a hand in causing my friend's death. This was all my fault, and mine alone.

After the Cat doesn't leave for several long, quiet seconds, I finally acknowledge his presence with a few choice words: "You don't need to be here."

"I know." His voice is emotionless. "I'm the observer of events, that's all. I never really get involved in politics, unless it concerns my own survival. But, I couldn't avoid the suffering of Wonderland's greatest warrior."

"Alice is Wonderland's savior," I reply as I clench my hands into fists against Chouku's dead face. "She has more power than me, here. She certainly wouldn't have let her closest friends die."

"Oh?" The Cat clicks his tongue. "What makes you think Alice hasn't already had sacrifices on this journey? The Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, the Carpenter? Their final moments aren't 'deaths' to you?"

"She would have noticed their pain, and helped them fix it." I turn to face the Cat as I say this; he sits atop one of the eyes of the stone circle. "They would have had the chance, the freedom, to speak up. I just let my mount suffer, and pass away."

"Freedom is so precious to some," the Cat explains with a rumble in his throat, "that they pay for it with their lives."

I have no response to this as I flash back to each character I've met so far on this journey. Some were oppressed, and dealt through the suffering. Many turned their suffering into an advantage, or so they thought. But, they all seemed to want the freedom to do as they pleased, no matter what the cost.

The March Hare Dormouse wanted to make a new Domain out of the old. Hatter wanted the old Domain back, and would do anything to get it. Carpenter used his passion for show business to keep Barrelbottom's denizens unaware of the true horror. The Mock Turtle made the _HMS Gryphon_ in commemoration of a fallen ally. They all had their freedom, and they all died to keep it.

Chouku must have thought the same way. He gave his life for my freedom as the 'Great Warrior' of Wonderland. Fresh tears come to my eyes as I reflect how determined he must have been to come back up from the pit, despite his injuries.

When I look up, the Cat is gone. Another _torri_ gate rests before a long path of stone steps. The path winds up and out of sight, but I realize what it is when I see a new statue by the gate. It is of two _geisha_ women walking with each other, holding hands. They lead to a path that, if the walker's mind is willing, will reach Caterpillar's sanctum.

I've heard the monks talk of it, but they never gave it a name. Only the Elder Ant had ever walked along it, before he became the Elder I know him as.

I turn back to Chouku and pat his face one final time. The comment for Chouku to 'rest in peace' comes to mind, but I let my silence speak for me. Then, I turn around, dismiss the Cup like the other two weapons, and begin my walk up the unnamed path to Caterpillar.

* * *

I take a slow, steady pace up the steps. The path winds up along the side of a giant cliff. The gray sky flows around the cliff, an unchanging color that matches the constant next step I take. Stone faces with expressions of quiet contemplation watch me pass by without a word. I don't speak back to them.

Eventually, my mind begins to wander. I think about all the pain I've been through to complete this quest. Caterpillar's artifact, the 'Cup', is mine, but was it really worth the death of my closet friend in this Grove? I know the Cat said that some will give their lives to have freedom, but Caterpillar's teachings don't agree with this. Both parts of me debate in my subconscious as I continue to walk up the steps.

Then, I hear Caterpillar's voice tell the same tale as I heard in the scroll. It must be a trick of the wind, but I take some solace in hearing my 'teacher' transcribe what I've already heard.

" _Regard this depiction of domestic harmony and order. The fruitful landscape encouraged industry, tolerance, and cooperation. Loving families flourished. Happy children and dear friends, grateful for their well-being, lived for generations. Secure, active, and free. But, a sudden onslaught of alien attacks broke their fragile bodies and nearly crushed their generous spirits._ "

Caterpillar must be talking about the Origami Ants, in a metaphorical sense. They worked the land to their choosing, and profited from their labor. They grew into a thriving community, loving and trusting each other. Then, the Wasps came and changed all that for the worse. Now that I've killed their leader, I have hope that the Ants will return to that peaceful state.

Caterpillar's tale continues into new territory as the sky turns gray-and-orange.

" _The belligerents, without true cause or purpose, abused and murdered their pacific victims, whom they hated for being different. The invaders corrupted the vivid world. The assaulted could not comprehend the merciless brutality. Still, they stayed on, trying to placate their oppressors and recover their past. The cruel interlopers attacked at intervals, instead of killing them all at once. The wretched survivors suffered in perpetual fear. Is there a worse fate?_ "

Is this what the Wasps did to the Ants while I was gone? I doubt I could have stopped the Wasp's invasion entirely, but I could have eased thier pain. Instead, I came back to the shrine more focused on my past than the present suffering of my fellow monks. I feel disgusted at myself for not seeing the extent of the damage earlier on. Sure, I saw the burning houses and blood-soaked corpses, but I didn't realize that was designed to make the Ants suffer as much as possible.

Now that the Witch is dead, I have hope this suffering will stop. I extend my prayers to the suffering monks as I walk up the path.

Caterpillar continues to speak. The sky turns a darker red; the stone faces seem to melt off the walls the farther up I go.

" _A restless seeker, on private business, arrived in the misery-infested land. She, despite ignorance, uncertainty and unhappiness in her own life, could not endure to see them suffering. She began to fight against the savage murderers, abusers and defilers without quite knowing why, or for whose sake, she truly fought, or how the struggle would end._ "

I almost stop as I realize Caterpillar is talking about Alice, and her 'hero complex'. But, is he speaking about a time before now, or Alice's current journey? Alice knows the different icons, statues, and symbols of this place. But, when did she figure that out? If Caterpillar is talking about Alice's path right now, up to his sanctum… then she might not like what she finds up there.

Alice might also grow jealous of my triumph over the Witch, in comparison to her journey. Then again, I don't know what challenges she's facing. It sounds to me like Alice is fighting for the Ants because she can't stand to see their suffering. Has this entire journey been emotionally affecting her?

I know Chouku's death hit me very hard, but Alice has had to deal with her entire _world_ dying off to this Ruin. Yet again, her suffering and skills are far superior to mine. I hope I see her at the top of the path, so I can hear just what she's had to face on her way up to Caterpillar.

* * *

The gray sky is now a dark mix of red and orange; the Vale of Doom's colors. Anger rumbles in my chest as I remember the Grove is a solitary spot against the Vale's chaos. The Grove might fall apart if we don't stop the Ruin. We can't have that happen.

Suddenly, the stone steps turn to dirt with streaks of black ink. I avoid the ink blots as best I can, and very quickly reach a teapot statue. Has the Hatter returned?

No, he hasn't; I saw him die. He would die with the things he loved the most. He's mad like that, I guess.

I slip through a gap between the statue and a large stone railing, and find myself at the entrance to Caterpillar's great tower. I recall its name now that I see it: The Peak Temple. The monks had said this was where the Elder went to commune with Caterpillar, and learn his teachings. It looks intimidating with its layers of circular roofs, but I have come too far to be turned away by simple fear.

I look to the white steps and see Alice about to walk up them. She doesn't seem damaged from what she's faced; at least, in her clothes. Her face is another story.

We share a look that tells a thousand words, but we don't let a sound escape our mouths. Alice's eyes tell me she's had to test mind and body to get this far. I believe my eyes tell her the exact same thing.

I walk up to her on the steps, and we embrace for a moment, a repeat from our battle in the Vale of Doom. Then, we walk up the Temple's steps together as the Savior, and the Warrior, of Wonderland.

* * *

The temple's floor is made up of dark marble tiles, polished to a reflective sheen. Open windows on all sides provide full view of the Grove's final layer against the Vale of Doom's chaos. The chief object inside the room is, of all things, a giant statue of Caterpillar smoking a hookah. I don't know what metal it's made out of, but it looks very bright to the eye.

Alice lets out a breath before she nearly shouts out, "We've come all this way to find a simulacrum?!"

" _If I had the time,_ " Caterpillar says to Alice from somewhere we can't see. " _I'd detail how often you prefer dealing with illusions rather than the real thing. Problems you refuse to deal with don't exist. You deny reality!_ "

"That's not right," Alice retorts as she places her hands on her hips. "I know what's real!"

" _No, and you allow other to tell you what isn't real. You are emotionally distraught as Kyle was, and still is._ "

"Hold on," I quickly as I realize I'm now in the conversation. "You don't think I've gained control over my emotions? I completed your quest; I have your artifact with me right now."

" _That was only the first step. True knowledge doesn't come from one instance of success. You must continue to experience what you believe to be 'order' and 'discipline' before you can call it that. Other people have influenced your mind until now, and they will continue to do so for their own benefit! You are a pawn for them to play with!_ "

"Are you saying my quest meant nothing to you?" I jab a finger at the statue as I say this, but I force my hand down after a moment.

" _You are still learning,_ " Caterpillar states. " _You_ should _still be learning! A true warrior can always learn something new. To call yourself a 'master' at something is to invite others to come and defeat you. Now, both of you, come inside._ "

Before either of us can speak, the tiles beneath us shake violently. Then they all shatter apart, save for the ones beneath Caterpillar's simulacrum. Alice and I both fall into a dimly-lit cavern that is so tall, it must reach the very bottom of the Grove. At least, that's how it feels to me because of how long we fall down.

I slam against a warm, wet type of stone as Alice floats down, using her kimono to slow her descent. The cavern's center is filled with a large, white object that hangs from beneath the simulacrum. Strands of white webbing connect the object to the cavern's stone walls. The air is very warm. A slanted path leads up to the lower center of this object.

The object then moves before my eyes. Something big is in this cocoon of white webbing. I'm not sure I want it to get out, but Alice starts to walk up the path as the cavern continues to shake around us. I keep up with her as the shaking doesn't stop.

"My memories are shattered," Alice speaks to the cocoon. "This wicked train has ruined nearly all I can recall, and Wonderland will perish completely as I lose my mind. So much has changed. I can't help Wonderland if I can't help myself."

" _Much has changed,_ " Caterpillar agrees from _inside_ the cocoon as we both pass beneath a stone arch. " _But, you've got it backwards. Save Wonderland and you may save yourself! The Carpenter was on to something, but he was hiding from the real. Your goal is to accept it!_ "

"Where shall I go, then? What shall I do?"

" _The Queen must be served, Alice. The Queen, in all her guises, must always be served!_ "

"Impossible!" I spit this out as my earliest memories of the tyrannical Queen of Hearts, and her minions, come back to me. "The Queen of Hearts is a monster! A despoiler! A… whatever description the Mad Hatter uses!"

" _She is all these things, and more. She has more to her than you could possibly realize. But, you will learn._ "

I don't respond because we now arrive at the end of our path. The cocoon's white, sticky webbing parts to reveal the face of a large, green-skinned caterpillar. He wears a tiny red hat, and long green whiskers curl from his cheeks. His face is quite human-like, with long, thin lips, a small nose, and narrow eyes. His neck and upper body are segmented, and six arms are curled near his head.

Caterpillar's eyes suddenly open to reveal bright yellow irises and black pupils. A shudder goes through me; it's like he's woken up from a long slumber. Is that what this cocoon is for? Has he changed from a simple caterpillar into something greater?

"How can the Queen stem this growing corruption, or assist my search?" Alice echoes my anger as the cavern shakes even more around us. "What does she know that I don't?"

" _She is someone you once knew and loved,_ " Caterpillar speaks back, without moving his mouth once. " _Time changes us all._ "

Somehow, I doubt that is correct. Someone as powerful, and menacing, as the Queen of Hearts I remember doesn't change very easily. Granted, I never _saw_ the Queen face-to-face. But, the effect of her rule was enough for me to see how much she was hated.

The Mad Hatter disliked her, but didn't rebel against her. Then again, I was locked in a so-called 'Fortress of Doors', among a collection of the Hatter's wild clockwork experiments. I never had the chance to personally judge the Queen. But, everyone I know seems to hate her, so I should hate her, too. Right?

The cocoon begins to crack under the cavern's shaking as Alice states, "Not all change is good."

" _Remember that, both of you, when you find the Queen._ "

The cocoon breaks apart as Caterpillar spreads his new wings. I stare in awe as 'Caterpillar' is now a butterfly. He truly _has_ become something greater.

His wings are white, red, and black; the three colors blend together into a vibrant collage. The same pattern on the wings is now on his face, but his face now has a long white beard in addition to the color. His body is smaller, thinner, which helps as he flaps once, twice, three times with his new wings.

The gusts of wind he makes join the cavern's rocks as everything falls apart around us. Whispers echo in my ears in languages, tones, and dialects I can't comprehend. I reach for Alice, but she's nowhere near me. Then, I fall, fall, fall through a white abyss…

And find myself on a wooden floor. Caterpillar's words echo again in my head as I recover my senses: " _Time changes us all…_ "

A dim ray of sunlight hits the floor beneath me, reveals the dust and mold on the floor itself. The air tastes putrid to my tongue, but also strangely familiar. My body feels like I've walked miles without end; which, to be true, I actually might have in the Grove.

A cry reaches my ears. I clutch my head as I rise up from the floor. I remember this place. Metal bars are before me, a barrier to my movement. Old, peeling walls are to either side of me. A dust-covered window filters in sunlight from a clear, but bleak, sky.

I'm back in gaol. Alone.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We've left the Mysterious East/Oriental Grove behind. Is prison any better? We'll have to see!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism and feedback are appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	28. Shuffling the Deck

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter, a small bit earlier than the previous one.**

 **Work and studies have started up again for me, but there's still a bit of time for me to post this before things get too hairy. I will do my best to stay on schedule with these chapters.**

 **Here's the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content by them not included in the final game. The author owns their custom characters/objects/locations that they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

' _Gaol? Why am I back here? Where's Alice? Is she safe?!_ '

"Aah! Get away from me!"

A hoarse male voice says this amidst the sounds of a scuffle. Two burly officers drag the owner of the voice, a much thinner man in rags, by the front of my cell. He shouts similar phrases at the officers as I stand up and walk over to the bars. I place a hand against the wall as I move over.

"Oy, you there! That's enough of that!" This comes from a familiar-sounding man as I hear heavy footfalls come back to my cell. I step back from the bars when I see Williard stand on the other side. He wears the same uniform, with the same burly appearance, as the last time we met. His eyes bore into mine, and I just stare back.

"Well, skip," he finally says as he slaps a hand against the bars. "Fancy seeing ye back 'ere. And to think I wasn't the lucky bloke to bring ye in, this time. Ye find Alice Liddel yet?"

He breaks into a chuckle over his words, but quickly shuts up when he realizes I'm not laughing.

"Oy, Williard, what's this all about?" The other officer, a brown-haired officer with a cleaner complexion, comes over with this question. He glances at me with a casual look before he looks to his comrade-in-arms.

"This 'ere bloke's a recent acquaintance of mine, is all. We were just discussing whether he fulfilled his… special goals." Williard winks at me, but I get the point he's trying to make.

"What, _this_ urchin?" I hold back a responsive bristle as the other officer looks more closely at me through the bars. "How's 'e got special goals? The only thing that's 'special' about 'im is that 'e came 'ere with Alice Liddel."

"Really?" Williard grunts as he hears this. "What was it with dear Alice this time? I haven't heard the boys speak up about what 'appened."

"Howling outside the Old Lady, muttering about a murder in Threadneedle Street, cursing insects and the national railroad," Fred reports. "Had to bring her in, didn't I?"

"Tut tut tut," Williard says with a shake of his head. "I've seen too much of her as of late. A menace to herself, sure, but no menace to society! She don't belong in gaol."

"Ye think this boy's any better?" Fred gestures to me as he asks this question. "'E was screaming about wasps, smoke in his eyes, and some grand 'artifact' 'e had to find. 'E even pantomimed firing a gun! Bloody crazy, if ye ask me. What kind of 'artifact' would be in London these days?"

"I'd say the new railroad's an artifact of the so-called 'Industrial Revolution', but that's making a stretch. The blokes who have to live near the construction site sure don't like it." Williard strokes his chin as he carefully looks me over. I feel like he's stripping my clothes off with his gaze, and I flinch in uncertainty.

"Ah, we'd better let him out, Fred," Williard says after several seconds of thought, "send him back to Dr. Bumby. He raised holy hell the last time the lad, and Alice, were kept overnight."

"Oh?" Fred echoes my silent question. "What happened?"

This causes Williard to break out into a story. My mind plays scenes of everything he says. Every detail he talks of shows itself in my mind like I'm actually there.

* * *

"It was the same night Jack Splatter, that waste of a mother's love, was nabbed for gutting that heavy outside the Mermaid. I was taking Alice down, and a newer bloke to the force had the kid. And, ah, we meet two coppers walking Jack back to the cells. 'E's mouthing in the usual, "I never! Wrong boke!" nonsense when 'e sees our two arrests. "Those are the bitches what done it!" he yells.

"At that moment, the kid starts howling and screaming like a rabid dog; it takes the new boy all his strength to hold him back from ripping Splatter to shreds. And then there's Alice who screams various debilitating insults: "You miserable cur! You leech! You maggot! Living off another's labor!" etcetera, etcetera. I'm admiring Alice's line of inquiry, and the kid's wild strength, but they both suddenly hit their heads or something and faint! I couldn't send them home, could I?"

* * *

"And, Doctor Bumby pitched a fit?" This comes from Fred, too soon to react properly to his question as I come back to reality.

"Bumby said he'd have me job, and me ass, on a plate!" Fred waves his hands around to emphasize his words, but he cracks a smile as he continues. "Heh, told him 'e could have the former, leave the latter alone, thank you very much!" Fred mutters something else under his breath, and then unlocks my cell door.

"Good night, lad," Williard says as he pulls the door out. "We'll talk to Alice soon. Ye can wait for her in the lobby below. Someone actually wants to meet ye down there, also."

I force out a, "Thank you, Williard," from the foul taste in my mouth as I walk out the cell door. I take a few steps before I stop and turn back to the two officers.

"Oh, by the way," I say as I realize I should clear something up. "My name is Kyle Zuclair."

I don't stick around long enough to see their reaction to this declaration.

* * *

The police station's lobby is packed with people. The walls are cleaner than the goal cells, at least. The people's clothes are a mix of clean and dirty, their faces shaven or scraggly. Men, women, and even children stand in lines to a large desk where a few officers talk to them one by one.

A loud, "This is my bloody day off!" and a melancholy, "What charges have you got today?" reach my ears as I wade through the crowd. The overall mood is depressed, and it doesn't change when I enter. Then again, the people here probably know Alice more than me.

I see Dr. Fixxler on the far end of a wooden bench. No one sits next to her, which seems oddly coincidental to me. She wears a gray robe that highlights the wrinkles in her face. Her eyes have a spark that should be on someone much younger. Her hands are folded in her lap as she looks over the crowd. I walk up to her without her noticing me.

"Dr. Fixxler." My statement sounds more like a question to my ears, but I keep my nervousness inside me. She turns and smiles when she sees me.

"Ah, my child," she slowly says. "Have a seat. I'm sure you have more stories to tell me." I sit down beside her and let out a long breath. My hands clasp together as I turn to face the Doctor.

"You're right, Doctor," I begin. "I do have a story for you. But, it's a bit complex. Where do you want me to start?"

"Don't give me any sympathy because of my age," Dr. Fixxler says with narrowed eyes. "Tell it to me how you want to. I can put the pieces together myself."

I accept her words, and begin to describe what's happened to me, and Alice, without leaving anything out. I tell her, to the best of my ability, of the people we've met, the places we've been to, the encounters we've had.

I tell her of my quest, and my emotions that are so hard to control at times. I tell her how I chose my name, since I never told her it earlier. I even describe the locations Alice and I have been to in Wonderland, despite the fact that place being a world created by Alice.

Dr. Fixxler doesn't seem concerned, or surprised, by my mention of Wonderland. This probably sounds fantastical to her, or something, but I don't stop my tale to ask her thoughts. I don't want to lose my train of thought, since there's so much to tell.

When I finish, my throat feels raw. I rub a hand along my neck and take several slow, deep breaths to pump fresh air into my lungs. A part of me waits on tiptoe for how Dr. Fixxler reacts. Will she think the medicine she gave me caused all this, or will she accept it as actual truth? Considering how she gave me a second chance before to find her 'payment', I don't know how she'll act now.

Come to think of it, I haven't used her medicine very much since I got it. Will that upset her?

"So," she finally says with a hard glance at me. "You believe you are from this 'Wonderland'? If that's true, how did you ever arrive here? London seems like a worse place to come to."

"I still don't know how that happened," I admit. "But, I know a good chunk of my past from being in Wonderland. I suspect that I'll figure out the rest soon enough."

"A good motive," the doctor says with a nod of her head. "So, now we come to the matter of my fee."

I automatically flinch. I was so desperate to avoid payment last time; how will she act with me _this_ time? The moments tick by with her looking at me, and I pat around my clothes to find something useful.

I jump as my hands come across a sheet of old paper in my shirt pocket. I pull it out to see it's a tightly-rolled scroll, just like the one the 'Witch with Three Faces' wrote on to challenge me with. But, when did this get here? I thought I gave it to Alice. Didn't I?

I quickly mutter, "T-this might work!" as I thrust the scroll to the doctor. She takes it, and opens it, with very slow movements. My right leg starts to shake out of sheer nervousness, and I can't make it stop as I look over her shoulder at the scroll.

Dr. Fixxler reads over the Chinese characters inside, the very same characters the Witch wrote in. I don't see any sort of emotional change on her face, or in her orange eyes, as she looks them over. Can she even understand them?

"This is certainly unusual," she finally says, before she rolls the scroll up and closes her hand around it. "I do recall saying that material goods weren't the only method of payment, but this will suffice."

"Then, I've paid you off for your medicine?" I ask this with all nerves on end. "The debt has been covered?" She looks away from me, keeps me in suspense. Why won't she answer me immediately? Is there something else I need to do?!

"It will work for the material component," she repeats without saying 'yes' or 'no' to my question. "As for the mental component, it seems you haven't completely recovered from your amnesia, yet. Sure, you have your name, but you don't seem to know your true purpose in life. I can't say you've fully recovered until you know for certain who you are, who you were, and who you hope to be."

 _Damn_. That's not what I wanted to hear. I force my leg to stop shaking with a tight grip as I feel denial bubble alongside anger.

"However," she then says. "You certainly seem focused to complete that goal. And, you don't talk like you want to harm anyone in this world to get what you want. I'd say that's good enough for you to survive here, at the least. My medicine may not have been the deciding factor, but it did help get you on the right track."

"But, I still haven't paid off everything you wanted," I say with a melancholy tone. "What else do you want from me?"

The doctor places a hand on my shoulder, and I jump as her grip becomes very strong. I don't turn my head to face her; the strength of her grip tells me enough about how she feels.

"You've paid off as much as you can," she states. "I am willing to overlook the rest of the cost if, and _only if_ , you don't stray from your current road to recovery. Keep an eye on Alice, as well; your two paths seem very closely intertwined."

"O-of course, of course," I stutter out with several quick nods. "I'll do my best. Thank you so much!"

Fixxler's grip lessens, and I see her smile when I look at her. The amount of joy in my body makes me want to scream and shout my success to the world, but I settle for a long, slow, soul-cleansing sigh.

* * *

Fixxler slowly gets up from the bench and turns to where I walked in from the upper floor. I look over there as several angry mutters from the surrounding people mix together. Alice is there, in her London dress, a hand to her head as she steps into the lobby.

I jump up beside Fixxler, and Alice quickly notices the two of us. She strides over, and I note several people give her cold glares as she passes them by. She ignores them all and comes over to us. Actually, she goes to the doctor first.

"Dr. Fixxler," she greets as she shakes the older woman's hand. "I see you've met my friend."

She looks at me as she says this. Her eyes tell me, ' _If you said something bad to her, you're dead._ '

"Yes, Mr. Kyle Zuclair," Fixxler responds to Alice as the two release their hands. "He's been a recent customer, and a very entertaining one at that. I'd say he's kind of like you, just the opposite gender."

I feel a blush come my cheeks at this comparison, and I see Alice also blush in embarrassment.

"How are Nanna and Huginn doing?" Alice quickly asks before the conversation gets out of hand. "I haven't been by your shop in a few months."

"They're both fine, fit as a fiddle. But," Fixxler adds while she taps a finger against her chin. "I'd say they could use some time outside the shop. Get to know the outside world. Not too many people come by my shop, you know, and they don't get to interact with others outside of customers."

"It would probably do those two loads of good to explore the world," Alice agrees. I silently nod to the doctor as well. I recall the cat and raven easily, since they both aided Fixxler in some way whilst in the shop. But, as I recall through my time with Chouku, most creatures like to spend some time outdoors. The fresh air would probably do them, as Alice said, 'loads of good'.

"Ah, speaking of Nanna and Huginn," Fixxler says as she looks to us both. "I'm afraid I have to go and check on them. I came here when I heard about your most recent arrest, in Threadneedle Street. Now that you two have been released, I'd better return to my work. Good day to you both."

Alice and I both respond at the same time with, "Good day." Fixxler walks off to the lobby's main door and exits into a blinding white light. I look at Alice, and she looks back at me with the same emotion; confusion. I then look at all the angry faces around us. Will they surround us, or leave us alone?

"Momma, look!" A young girl's voice shouts this out from inside the line to the desk. "The mad girl's got a friend!"

"Shush, dear," I hear from a woman with sand-colored hair and a blue dress as she looks to a very young girl by her feet. "It's not nice to bring attention to the disabled."

Alice instantly grips my arm as I take a step towards the woman. The feeling of Alice's fingers digging into my skin makes me stop. I glance over to her and she slowly shakes her head. Her face tells me, ' _It's not worth it._ '

Alice lets go of me after I take a second to calm down. Then, we both walk to the lobby door. The same white cat from before darts out before us, and we brush by a man in a sweat-stained suit and a very comical mustache. We step out into blinding sunlight, and take a few steps to get our bearings.

Then, Alice lets out a shuddering gasp as she falls to her knees, like in Dr. Radcliffe's place. I grab hold of her arms as she covers her eyes with her hands. The streets around us warp and shift like the colors of a painting. It takes a good amount of my focus to keep from throwing up from how bizarre these blends are. Luckily, this transition only lasts a few seconds.

* * *

When the transition clears, we both stand at the far end of a long, dark, slimy hallway. The walls are made of black stone, a few lanterns providing dim light. That light reveals several large cells beneath stone arches. I take a step forward and instantly stumble as my view is slanted to the right. It's like this entire area is being lifted up to one side.

Disembodied voices cry out in the distance, but I ignore them as I help Alice up. We both jog down the path, making splashes with each step. The cells we pass are apparently empty, but Alice moves on without looking at them. As I feel whatever we step in grow wetter and squishier, I question as to how long this path is. What's more, are we back in Wonderland at this time?

We eventually reach a new sight; a heart-shaped stone arch that leads to a tunnel of… _flesh_. Pulsing, leaking, bleeding flesh that covers the stones and makes them look organic.

I gag and turn away as a sickly aroma slams into my nose. It's just disgusting to all of my senses. The smell twists my taste buds the wrong way. The sound of dripping blood mixes with the slime we step on. I dare not touch the walls because they're so vile to look at.

Alice calmly waits for me to adapt to the flesh-tunnel before she leads us down it. More doors are here, but the bars are now long columns of muscles and cords. The cells inside are way too dark for normal cells, and I fall a bit behind Alice as I try to examine what's inside. I feel a sense of curiosity, despite my common sense saying that I should stay focused.

As I pass by one door, several red tentacles wriggle through the bars and try to grab me! Alice pulls me away from the tentacle's reach just in time, and they quickly slink back into the shadows. I take deep gulps of air, my nerves on fire from that sudden assault. We get up and keep going, but I've learned my lesson.

The flesh-tunnel eventually ends in a pit of spikes, veins, muscles, and what I swear is a giant tongue. A small path extends out over the pit, which Alice takes a few steps on. I follow behind her, but we both stop as the area shudders around us. A copious amount of blood falls from the ceiling, and three large tentacles rise from below. I gasp as I recognize these tentacles from my nightmares.

The floor beneath us ripples, and breaks into bits of flesh and bone. We both fall into a pit of bones, tentacles, and tongues. The whispers from the Mysterious East return to my ears in stronger force, but they vanish when we break through a weaving of sticky flesh. Then, we tumble through a bright, blue sky.

I fall down, down, down to a green and blue landscape beneath a thin layer of white cloud. The wind roars in my ears as I try to straighten myself in midair. I see Alice right herself easily enough. Countless cards surround us both; Aces, Kings, and all the rest in between fly around us in a long column that shifts my body to an upright position.

I look down as I feel my skin burn. My clothes turn white and peel away, revealing my Vale of Tears clothes underneath. The wind's roar turns to a gentle sigh as the card-tunnel breaks apart. We float slowly down to a single 2 of Clubs card that lies flat in the air. That card connects to another 2 of Clubs, and a 5 of Clubs, in a singular path. A single white tooth hangs over one of the cards, and I see a large castle of cards in the distance.

Once Alice and I both touch down, I feel a sense of calm trickle through my veins. The revulsion of the flesh-tunnel turns into silent wonder at how these cards can hold our weight. Alice walks up to the 5 of Clubs, and another card suddenly flies over from a nearby flock to further our path. The flock flies over us and to the left; more flocks are in the distance, moving like birds in the sky.

"This place is so serene," I ask as I walk over to Alice. "What is it called?"

Alice answers with one word, spoken through tight lips: "Cardbridge".

* * *

I follow Alice as we move up the path of cards. More cards fly in front of us when we reach the end of the apparent path, until we reach a cylinder of cards. Cards flow through the cylinder like the vents and geysers we've already seen in Wonderland. Alice jumps to it, and the cylinder works just like those vents and geysers. I follow her to reach another group of floating cards.

As soon as we land, we hear a Snout's snort. But, we don't see it anywhere nearby. Alice shrinks down, and quickly pops back up to summon the Grinder and fire it in front of us. I soon hear a Snout sneeze from that direction, and a new card moves close to us like a moving platform. We both hop on and ride the card over to a Liddel Memory. Alice quickly breaks it open.

We catch Lizzie in the midst of a rant as she " _…claimed I'd stolen his heart. Trifling with his affections! Creepy sod. Touching me… Told Papa to never invite him to tea again!_ "

"Sounds like Lizzie had a lover," I speak as the card moves back over. "Or, this could be a stalker."

"I don't remember which of the two it is," Alice replies as we move back onto the main set of cards. "Let's just keep moving."

We move along the path as more and more cards move into place for us to walk on. The next several minutes fall into a similar pattern of moving and collecting. Teeth and bottles are off the main path on invisible platforms, which Alice stops to collect whenever she gets the chance to. I stay on the path and keep the card castle in my sights whenever Alice goes off on these paths.

It takes me a _long_ time to get used to the fact Alice has to walk on thin air to get these floating bottles and teeth. One false step would lead to her apparent end, if more of these cards don't make a space for her first.

The card suits and faces don't change too often as we travel, but the path we walk on winds up and down in long curves. It gets to the point that I just let the cards guide us. Alice's tight-lipped expression doesn't change as we keep moving.

After one long curved path, we stop before a card tilted diagonally towards a stack of face-down cards. The backs of these cards have a light red color with a white crowned heart in the center border. But, there isn't anything beyond that stack, and the diagonal card next to us doesn't reach it. The card castle is to our right, but the open space I see for us to go through is too far away to jump to.

"Believe in the heart of the cards, I guess," Alice mutters before she goes down the slide. More cards fly into place faster than I can see, and she lands on the stack. The stack's cards bounce up and separate for a second like a toadstool spring. This gives Alice enough air for four '5 of Clubs' cards to form a new platform, which she lands on. Unfortunately for me, the slide of cards vanishes a second later.

I copy Alice's movements, and the cards form back up for me. The stack bounces me up, and I land unharmed. I look back at the slide to see it is, once again, gone. A few more cards form a path for us to walk into the castle. Up close, the castle's walls are cards stacked in diagonal and horizontal patterns.

Before we slip inside, Alice peppers one other invisible Snout that she hears, and grabs a golden tooth that a set of 'Ace of Hearts' cards leads to. Once she comes back, we step in together.

* * *

The castle's interior is made up of cards, cards, and more cards. Some of the cards are split at the ends, or segmented into specific shapes. Two white boxes mark a small open space that we can travel through, which brings us to a side chamber. A few teeth are here, as well as a Bumby memory that Alice breaks open.

" _Light?_ " Bumby asks this like he's chastising someone for daring to speak the word. " _Light is useless if what it illuminates causes pain and suffering. Better to cast such things into the dark depths of Lethe; the river of forgetfulness._ "

"Heartwarming for you to mention the Lethe at all, Doctor," Alice sarcastically comments back. "I never figured you as a scholar of ancient morality."

I raise an eyebrow at Alice's comment, but don't ask her about it as we head back to the main area of the castle. We move on forward until we reach a three-way path. Two of these paths have Pressure Pads on them, while the third leads to an open doorway.

I move to the right Pad and step on it. It doesn't do anything until I hear a _click_ a few moments later. I look to another space of the castle, across an open gap we can't jump across, and see another door has opened. But, will that door close when I step off this Pad?

"Kyle!" Alice shouts to me from the intersection point. "Get off the Pad and get back here!"

I run back to her, and hear the _tick-tick-tick_ of a Clockwork Bomb. She must have put that on the other Pad. She didn't tell me we were on a time limit!

"I saw invisible platforms for us to cross the gap," Alice quickly says as she pulls me to the door. "Move, before the Bomb explodes!"

She stops right before the gap and shrinks down for a second. When she grows back up, she pushes me into the air. I land on an invisible platform just as it starts to rise up, and Alice jumps onto the same platform. The Bomb ticks at a faster pace.

"Shrink down to see the path," Alice shouts to me as I get up. "Stay close to me!"

She runs across a narrow invisible platform with no fear of falling off the sides. I shrink down and see an intricate layout of narrow and wider invisible platforms for a single second. I then unshrink and follow Alice as fast as I can. The Bomb's _beep-beep-beep_ reaches my ears. We're not going to make it.

The Bomb explodes a second later, and the castle door slowly starts to slide down. We don't reach it in time. Alice stops in her tracks, and punches the air in frustration.

"Damn it!" she exclaims. "So close! We'll have to head back and try again."

I walk back across the platforms with her as I calm my beating heart. Alice and I quickly go over a plan as we reach the three-way path again. We split up, and I move right next to the right-side Pad. This time, I don't step on it until Alice gives me the word. That's part of the plan.

After a few seconds, I hear Alice shout, "Now, Kyle!" I step on the Pad, and teleport back to the center as quick as I can. Alice is there, and we both get on the rising invisible platform without any lost time. We then race across the platforms as the Bomb ticks down. But, we don't get across before it explodes.

"Shrink through the door!" Alice shouts as we race towards the slowly-closing card. She doesn't slow down as she teleports over to the door, and then shrinks down to run through it. I copy her movements, and I feel the card's surface press against the top of my head as I run underneath it.

Once I'm inside, I unshrink to catch my breath alongside Alice. We share a smile with each other, glad that our plan worked.

* * *

Once we're ready, we proceed on through another card-door, and walk along a sharply-turning card path. Another Pad is here, and a quick check of my Shrink Sense reveals another set of invisible platforms to the left that we can use to reach… somewhere. I stand on the Pad to check what it does; turns out that it makes an entire platform of cards form from surrounding flocks in an instant. Who knew that playing cards could be so coordinated?

Since both of us need to get to that platform, Alice places another Clockwork Bomb on the Pad. We time the placement to the first invisible platform, since that one rises up and down. Once activated, we sprint across the platforms and jump over to the new space. Luckily, our arrival there seems to keep it in place when the Bomb explodes.

A second Pad is here, and its activation causes most of the cards around us to instantly fly off and reform into a card tower that we have to jump to. It's incredible that these cards can do this so fast. Alice doesn't seem to care, but she's probably seen equally-spectacular feats of magic elsewhere. We place another Bomb and jump over without a word. A few teeth rest along the next path.

When we cross past the second row of towers, I hear a loud _click_ in my head. The towers, and most of the platform around us, fly apart faster than I can see. I swallow a sudden lump in my throat as Alice also stops. We look at each other, and then move on.

Neither of us need to say what I think; this place is getting kind of creepy.

The path now has small gaps that we could fall through, but we avoid them with small jumps. The cards also seem to stutter in their movements; they twitch away from us, and even dart off for a second before coming back. It's almost like the cards are against us, now. We may have been in here for too long, and they don't want us to stick around. Of course, I can't think of any good reason because we need to _keep moving_.

We soon reach another diagonally-tilted card pointed to another face-down stack. Alice goes first, like before, and the slide forms for her as she moves. She bounces off the stack, but bounces off again to reach higher into the air. Then, she slowly floats down to the largest castle of cards yet as it forms within seconds.

I slide down once she lands safely on the castle. The slide forms for me, and the stack launches me skyward. I bounce on it a few times, but I don't rise any higher. The next best option would be for me to angle my bounce and add more charge through my mists so I can make it over safely. After another bounce to consider options, I take that choice.

When my feet next touch the stack, I focus my mists into a charged forward jump. I fly towards the castle… and start to fall before I reach where I want to land. I flail my arms forward and grab onto the farthest card of the platform with one hand. The pain of my arm bearing the full weight of my body makes me cry out.

Alice is above me in a second, and she takes my other hand to pull me up. Once we're both on stable ground, I see a blue mushroom after some teeth. It looks like we'll be done with Cardbridge, unless there's another section we have to cross through.

I look to Alice and see her look back at me with… confusion? Concern? I can't tell what expression she has on her face.

I ask her what's wrong, and she answers with, "I think we need to discuss what's happened since we separated in the Grove. I know this might be a bad time, but I want to hear what you've been up to. I'm sure you also want to know what I've been through."

"Are you sure this is the best place to talk?" I look around us to make sure we won't be attacked by flocks of giant playing cards.

"It's fine, it's fine," Alice quickly says. "We'll be gone in a bit, and then the cards can have their alone time. Now, I'll start off."

With that, Alice tells me her adventures up to when we met at Caterpillar's temple. She solved more sliding puzzles, freed the Ant prisoners of the Wasps, and upgraded her Teapot Cannon to a higher level. This teapot is a bit taller, and has a dark green and gold metal color. The steam is black, and the grenades look the same as the frame. She also completed a Radula Room on her own, and got one vial of Rose paint for it.

The biggest thing is that she discovered more about that deadly fire. Her cat, Dinah, saved her from the fire by leading her out her house's window. This contradicts Radcliffe's official report; he had written that Dinah started the fire in the library when she knocked over a lamp or lantern. So, how did the fire _actually_ start?

I then explain how my quest went, and don't leave out any details. I wave my arms around to describe the size of the places I saw, and eventually show her the Cup. Alice is surprised to see that _this_ is Caterpillar's sacred artifact. I tear up a bit when I describe Chouku's passing, and Alice seems a bit upset when she realizes she didn't fight against the 'Witch with Three Faces' with me. When I finish, Alice looks to the horizon with a small smile.

"I suppose you _are_ connected to Wonderland after all," she says as she turns back to me. "You may not have gained all of your memories yet, but there's a bigger question you have to figure out. How did you lose your memories to begin with?"

I have no answer for that, and I try not to get upset about that. I'll find the answers, somehow.

I follow Alice onto the blue mushroom, and we leave Cardbridge behind for another blinding white light.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! Those of you who have played the game will probably know what's coming next. For those of you that don't... it's not going to get any easier for our heroes. Stay tuned to find out why!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	29. The Queen's Land

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in this story.**

 **Just so you know, I've put in a reference from 'Game of Thrones' into this chapter. I found something interesting online that I felt could fit into this adventure; you'll probably be able to find it easily enough.**

 **There are also some extra creatures, and concepts, in this chapter that can be seen in the final game if you look hard enough. Enjoy any you find!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any original custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The light around us fades to a brown-and-white sky. The air is very warm; sweat runs down my back and soaks through my armpits. The smell here, like many other places we've seen, makes me cover my nose in disgust.

Another slide is before us, this one with a path of stone. There's something new on the path, too; large balls of what appears to be dried flesh. These balls stick to the track like the Ruin pools—maybe they're the source of the odd smell?

"Dried pustules," Alice describes for me. "That's something new. I think they can be smashed, but you should wait a few seconds before you follow me. Take a different path, if you want to; we should wind up together at the end."

I give a quick, "Got it," as Alice jumps down to the slide. She starts as she has before, and shifts over to one of these 'pustules'. Her body smashes through it without any trouble, so they can be broken. I instantly start my descent and try to keep Alice in sight.

The path twists a few times, and the color and quality of the air doesn't improve. I smash into a pustule and clench some teeth from inside in one hand. We soon reach a split, and Alice takes the left path. That leaves me with the right side, which I don't mind. We've split up on almost every slide we've been on, and nothing bad has happened to us yet.

Wait, did I just invite something bad to happen by saying that?

I quickly pick up speed as my path slopes down for several seconds. Ruin patches burn my butt along the way, and I have to turn very quickly at the end with wild waves of my arms to avoid falling off the edge. I focus on the path ahead, but nothing else tries to block me. A few pustules do get in the way, but I just smash through them without any trouble.

Trouble comes when I don't see Alice ahead of me when our paths rejoin.

I smash through a few pustules on one side of the path as it widens up considerably. Then, it suddenly ends in a sharp drop into the brown haze below. I spread my limbs out and try to glide, but I just drop like a stone. Luckily, a broken stone bridge emerges from the haze below me. I land on all fours, and the structure violently shakes for a moment.

I stand up, and a force slams me to my knees. The force digs into my head, cuts my breath off, makes my limbs move on their own. I fall onto my side, and the force talks to me.

" _Friend of Alice,_ " it says in a powerful female voice, " _you are not welcome in my domain! Stay away!_ "

My head clears up after that, but I just shiver and twitch on the ground. Something feels different from that encounter. I'm not sure whether it's my clothes, skin, or inner organs, and frankly don't want to find out.

I slowly get up to my knees and take a look around. Nothing pops out from the haze, and the bridge beneath me doesn't break apart. Did I imagine the force, like the illusions from Caterpillar's smoke? I raise a hand to scratch my head… and stop as I see my clothes have changed once again.

Instead of my Vale of Tears regalia, I now wear a padded white shirt, black boots, fingerless black gauntlets with faded jewels on the back, black shoulder pieces, and a belt around my waist. The shoulder pieces each look like the top half of a horse's head, and they splay out over my shoulder into open air. The gauntlets provide a thick defense for my hands and forearms, and the boots fit my feet with ease.

The clothing is certainly strange, but I don't linger on it. Wonderland, I've come to realize, has an odd sense of fashion.

I turn around at a _puff_ in the air. I get a peek up Alice's skirt as she floats just above me. I avert my eyes as Alice lands down, but I look back at her when I see that, like me, she now looks different. She still wears the same boots and stockings, but this new dress is more... dangerous.

The dress has shades of red, gold, brown, white, and black, all put together like an emblem or crest. In fact, symbols for the Heart, Diamond, and Spades suit of playing cards are visible on the _pinafore_ and upper area. The skull from before is now twisted into a dark-grey heart with glowing red eyes. The bow is a simple gold-and-black line, but it is covered by another line of golden hearts.

Gloves shaped like giant towers cover her hands and forearms, a small bit of skin visible on each arm between the glove and the dress. Alice's eyes are their usual green, and her hair flows free in the air. Despite this freedom, her face doesn't look happy at all as she notes the air around us. She walks forward along the bridge, and I follow.

We soon approach the crumbled end of another bridge. Dried tentacles the same size as the Kraken's limbs rise from the ground, frozen with the smell of rotting flesh. More stone bridges hang nearby, some bent against each other to stay up. I risk a look down at the edge of the bridge, and find nothing visible beneath the haze.

When we reach the end of our bridge, the haze clears to reveal a giant castle. The walls are covered with giant red vines and tentacles, the stone cracked and broken. Towers rise into the air, held in place by more rotting tentacles. The central tower has a giant, hollow heart on top of it, but even that has to be held in place by strings of red flesh.

The heart... could this be…? No, it can't. This can't be where _she_ lives, can it?

A familiar _whoosh_ of air directs my gaze to a nearby platform, held up higher than us by a few stone columns. The Cheshire Cat appears on this platform, and he immediately glares at Alice. His grin may still be there, but I can see deep anger in his eyes.

"Back to admire your handiwork?" he asks Alice, though it sounds to me like he knows the answer. "Returning to the scene of the crime?"

"It had to be done, Cat," Alice shoots back with a sing-song tone before she quotes something the Cat said to her, "you said so yourself: 'You and this Red Queen cannot both survive. She is a cancer in your body. Excise her, or perish.'"

'Red Queen'? That has to be the Queen of Hearts, right? The former tyrant ruler of Wonderland? But, Alice defeated her! How is she still alive?!

"Well," the Cat replies as his ears flick back as far as possible, "she _was_ the face of evil in the Heart of Darkness."

The words 'Heart of Darkness' are familiar to me; that was the name given to the Queen of Heart's castle when she was in control. I was never there, myself, which means Alice had to have gone there before now.

"She didn't treat you too well last time," Alice says with her hands on her hips. "Lost your head, as I recall."

This is news to me. I look to the Cat with wide eyes. He just shakes his head back and forth, his eyes cast to the ground.

"She was completely deranged," he states. He then returns his gaze to Alice with the words, "You picked up her crown. But, now you've put it down. You two must speak to her; what's _left_ of her, anyway…"

The Cat vanishes just as the platform he sits on begins to break apart. The columns that hold it up crumble to pieces, and the entire thing falls into the haze below. Wind rushes past us, and Alice's dress and hair flutter wildly. This gives her face a creepy look as she frowns at the giant castle before us.

"What—" I hack up some mucus in my throat before I finish my question to Alice. "What is this place?"

"Queensland." Alice says this word like it tastes terrible in her mouth. "It's amazing the Red Queen is still alive, considering I killed her." She turns to look at me and comments, "You should know how that happened, since you used to live in Wonderland."

"That's true," I agree with a nod. "But, there were still Card Guards on the loose after the Queen's death. Seems like they were fighting for a dying empire."

"The empire was already dead," Alice replies. "What's here is the decomposed corpse of what the Queen used to be." She shakes her head like the Cat did before she then says, "Well, let's get going."

We jump over to the nearest section of stone bridge, and the wind whips around us like Tundraful's cold.

* * *

As we land on the bridge, the same voice from before whispers, " _Off with her head…!_ "

The bridge starts to crumble before I can speak up. I manage to jump to the next bridge behind Alice, but this one doesn't look any better off.

The wind whistles, " _Stay away…!_ " the moment I get my bearings. The stone beneath us starts to break apart like the last bridge. The Queen is trying to kill us, I'm sure of it. I pump my legs and push my body forward to the next safe spot. My mist-powered leaps match Alice's midair twirls.

A stone platform crashes against a larger platform of stone and blood. A floating pot of dried flesh near this platform spits out steam, by some means I don't focus on. This new platform looks a lot more stable than these collapsing stone bridges. We should get over there as soon as possible.

" _You're unwanted here!_ " the wind shouts in my ears as we get onto the last stone bridge before the larger platform. This bridge instantly starts to crumble, faster than the others. I focus my mists as best I can, and make a leap for my target. I just make it safely, and Alice lands just by me.

She must have used the steam pot to get up here. I don't check for sure; what matters is that she made it.

Blotches of Ruin bubble up from the platform, and Insidious Ruin rise up from these blotches. I draw the Automaton Hammer, and see Alice summon the Vorpal Blade. She moves forward, but I stop short. A dark question comes to my mind when I see the Insidious here.

Did they already take over the Red Queen's castle? Has she been corrupted by this new enemy, or her body brought back to life? What if she's controlling these Ruin, and could help us against the greater threat? Is she really a threat to us? How strong is she, now that she's dead? Why does she still have influence over this land?

"Kyle? Kyle!" I hear Alice's voice grow louder and louder as these questions cycle through my head. "Kyle! KYLE!"

Hands grab my shoulders and start to shake me around. I break free and stumble around for a moment. What was I just thinking about?

"What's wrong with you?" I hear Alice ask as I shake my head a few times. "You didn't move in that battle at all. You looked as pale as a ghost."

I turn my eyes to the platform. All the Insidious are gone, and Alice doesn't look any worse.

"I... I'm sorry, Alice," I admit as I place a hand to my forehead. "I have too many questions right now."

"Then, stick to one task at a time," Alice advises with a frown. "First, stay right here."

Alice instantly moves over to that angled stone bridge from before. There's some teeth there, as well as a flying Snout. The brown haze shrouds the giant nose until I fully look at it, which is probably why I didn't see it before. Alice peppers up the Snout, and several more flesh-pots rise from the haze below.

I feel a chill run down my back; Alice is about to go off into the haze without me. I don't want to be left alone with all my questions. A quick glance to the castle shows no reaction to our activities, but its presence alone worries me. I turn away and leap over to Alice, and she wordlessly lets me follows her along the path of rising steam.

We reach another piece of what I guess is an intertwining network of stone bridges that all connect to the castle. This space has a Radcliffe memory above the broken stone. Alice goes over to it, and the bridge doesn't crumble before her feet. She touches the memory, and it shatters open.

" _I do support the monarchy—in principle,_ " Radcliffe's voice says against the howling wind. " _I'm sure the Queen is very good at what she does. Whatever that is. But is she not a person, just like ourselves?_ "

I frown at Radcliffe's words. From what I remember about the Red Queen, she ruled with terrible power. The Cheshire Cat called her a 'bloody big head' when I first crossed his path. The Guards under her command tried to hunt me down. Also, did the Mad Hatter actually work for her when he had power in the Domain? Alice would know for sure, but I don't want to trouble her with more questions right now.

We move back along the steam path, and onto the large stone platform. A toadstool spring from the Vale of Tears has sprouted from the rock in our absence, and we take it up to yet another stone bridge piece. After that comes a metal platform with a giant club suit imprinted in the center. This platform rises and falls every few seconds, and we time our jumps accordingly to get there.

We get off this platform, and stand on a floor of broken red tiles that _clack_ beneath our feet. I jump at a loud screech from by the castle wall. I turn there and stare at a large tongue with wings. It takes off from its nearby perch. I summon the Ice Wand to freeze it, but it doesn't even attack us. It's departure makes the dread in my gut grow a little stronger.

"A flying tongue," I hear Alice say, "It's made Queensland it's roost. _She_ knows we're here."

I don't need to clarify who the _she_ in that sentence refers to. What I _do_ want to clarify are the symbols on her new dress. That's a question I can afford to think about. Alice gives me a look that clearly says, ' _Why are you asking me this right now?_ ', but she answers anyway.

The one of her pinafore's right side is Venus, the ruler of love and the heart's desire. Alice considers this a possible relation to the Queen of Hearts, despite them being so different. The symbol on the pinafore's left is, so Alice calls it, the 'South Ascending Moon', ruler of karma and the past. A relation to Alice's childhood, perhaps?

Satisfied, I turn to what's in front of us—a giant heart-shaped door made of stone arches and red metal. The door opens with a loud grinding sound, and dust falls off the arches. I feel like this door has been shut for many, many days. Maybe even _years_.

I turn to Alice, but her attention is caught elsewhere. She looks to her right, and I follow her gaze to see a very cracked stone wall. It looks easy enough to break open, and Alice does just that with the Teapot Cannon. I guess the secrets of the Queen are open for us to discover.

Not that I _want_ to find them, of course.

We move through the broken wall, jump up to a higher stone walkway, and find a Radula Room open for us. Alice goes inside, and I stay close. The way I see it, what's in there is probably easier than what we're going to face out here.

* * *

We're back in the nighttime Vale of Tears. The air smells much better here than in Queensland, even if this place is just a fragment of a ruined place. The Cat appears in his usual spot, and we stop a few steps away from him.

"Ah, there you two are," he says with a flick of his ears. "Let's see how your brains are holding up." As usual, he turns to Alice first.

"What comes next in this sequence," he asks her, "1, 3, 4, 7, 11?"

I almost raise an eyebrow in confusion. All of the Cat's riddles, or at least the ones I remember from him, were more complex than this.

"You think I don't know simple math?" Alice scoffs at him. "The next number is 18, plain and simple."

"Got it in one!" the Cat says with a sharp flick of his tail. "Not all riddles have to be complex, you know." Then, he turns to me.

"Consider this situation," he says. "A warrior armed with a sword, and not much intelligence, stands in a room with three other men. One is a noble king, one a holy priest, and one is simply very wealthy. Each of these men tell the warrior to kill the other two, and leave himself alive.

"The king tells the warrior to do it because he is the warrior's lawful ruler, and the law must be served to preserve order. The priest tells him to do it because it is the will of the gods, who will eternally damn those who do not obey. The wealthy man tells him to do it because he will give the warrior all his gold in return, enough that the warrior won't have to fight again. In light of all these reasons, who should the warrior let live?"

This is absolutely not what I wanted to hear right now! The Cat just said riddles didn't have to be complex, and now he drops a complex riddle on me like this? Maybe if I wring his skinny neck, he'll see how angry I am-

No, no. Focus. Breathe. One task at a time.

I start to pace around the lake's edge and mull over each possible option I could choose.

If I go with the king, the priest and wealthy man die. That will bring down the vengeance of whatever gods the priest serves, and I would lose out on the wealthy man's fortune. If I choose the priest, I will have the god's favor, but I'd be going against the king's law and the wealthy man's riches. If I spare the wealthy man, I will earn his fortune, but I will face the combined wrath of the king's laws and the priest's gods.

No one option sounds like it's the best one to choose. I gain something, and lose something, no matter what Who, then, out of these men, do I say will stay alive?

I walk around the lake once, twice, three times as I think things through. Alice and the Cat stay silent, which helps me concentrate.

I look down to the lake's waters for help. My reflection looks just as confused as me. I then close my eyes and picture the situation in my head as best I can. Each piece comes into place slowly, until the entire scene is set up.

I stand in a gray, domed chamber. Before me are my interpretations of a king, priest, and wealthy man. They aren't clear enough to properly describe, but I can tell who is who. A sword is in my right hand, and no one else is nearby to interfere with my choice. Each man looks at the other two with scorn and disdain, because they want the others to die. They give me pleading looks, because they each want to live.

I look down at the sword in my hand, feel its weight, see the blade's glimmer. I then look to each man, one after the other. Which of these men is worthy to live? Which of them should I keep alive?

Something _clicks_ in my head. I look back to my sword, and then at each man's clothing. None of them carry weapons, or items they can use to defend themselves from me. They are all equally powerless against me. They are all _equal_.

I come back to the lake, and turn to face Alice and the Cat. My answer is clear.

"The warrior should kill all three men," I carefully explain. "This way, the warrior keeps the balance of power in place. The king's laws, the priest's gods, and the wealthy man's treasure do not compare to the power of the sword. The warrior is free to kill as many men in the room as he wants, no matter what the other men say, or offer him, because he has the power in that room. Therefore, he should be the only one who lives."

Alice raises both eyebrows and blinks twice. The Cat breaks into a long, slow, series of chuckles. His ears and tail flick back and forth at a slow pace. My confidence fades with each second that goes by.

"That certainly isn't the answer I thought you would choose," he then says. "But, your choice is your choice. To be fair, it isn't the _wrong_ answer."

"What do you—?" I start, but the Cat vanishes before I can finish my sentence. Only one vial of Rose Paint for Alice.

I slump in place. My answer was incorrect, in some way, and Alice won't be as strong as she could be. I look at the rippling lake, but it just reflects my saddened face.

"Don't cry over spilt milk, Kyle," Alice says to me as I hear her splashing footsteps. "You did your best, I'm sure. The Cat's probably playing some game as spite against my earlier words." I look up in time to see her take the Rose Paint vial for herself.

" _Foolish child,_ " Hysteria speaks to me as the area turns completely black. " _Fear is the only power that matters; it lets you rule over your enemies. If you aren't ruling over someone, then you are their puppet!_ "

* * *

We step back onto the stone walkway, back into Queensland. We move back the heart-shaped door, and enter through together. We step onto another tiled path that sharply turns up to a higher tiled space. That space is too high for us to jump to. A giant white king, with a large male face, is bound by thick vines beneath a large white stone arch. A smaller red bishop stands frozen between the tiles, and wilted flowers are spread out amongst the tiles.

" _Rise, my Guards,_ " the commanding voice says with a sudden gust of wind. " _Ri_ _se and serve your Queen!_ "

I look to Alice just as something bursts through the tiles between us. A human form climbs out of the ground, its skeletal body shaped like a black-colored, diamond-suit, playing card. A gaping hole is where its heart would be, and its fingers are replaced with long, sharp claws.

"Card Guards," I automatically shout out. "The Queen's servants!"

The Guard cracks all the bones in its body, and then lets out a wild roar. I leap back as it comes at me with incredible speed, and just miss its raised claws.

I bump into a hulking form, and feel warm air on my neck. Arms wrap around me, dig into my chest. Claws pierce my chest, and I cry out. A second later, white mist surrounds me as I teleport away from the hostile grip. When I reform, I fall to the ground, each breath now agony to my lungs.

I look across the path. Red-colored Guards have joined the fray. Alice slices at them with the Vorpal Blade, and they fall after just a few strikes. Their bodies then glow with some kind of black-and-red energy. As Alice moves onto another one, the glowing ones rise right back up and charge at her again.

Alice gets two slashes in the back before she teleports away from the mob. I manage to get on my feet as she appears beside me, and I ready the Incense Cup for combat. The Guards charge at us in one large group. I fire incense bullets at the closest ones as I hear the Teapot Cannon start to bubble. The ones I hit stumble, but don't fall; the others move around them with gaping mouths and hissing breaths.

Just when I feel the urge to teleport back, Alice fires her grenade. The blast knocks out the majority of the Guards. Some in the back just stumble as their bodies _hiss_ from the burning liquid. I fire more incense at them, but the ones we first knocked down start to glow again. They'll be back up in a moment.

A second tea grenade lands where the first one did. This blast melts away the Guard's bodies before they can get up again. I keep firing at the standing Guards with steady bursts of incense, and they fall down with several holes in their flesh. They start to glow like the rest, but Alice teleports over and uses her Hobby Horse to pound them back into the ground. They don't come back.

With all the enemies defeated, the pain in my chest reminds me of its presence. I clutch that part of me and feel the cool touch of my mists doing thier work. It seems slower than before, though. Is something holding my powers back? The Queen, perhaps?

"Are you sure you're alright, Kyle?" Alice asks me as she collects the teeth and rose petals the Guard's bodies leave behind. "You look shaken up."

"I had to fight these things while they were alive," I reply as I press my hand against my chest to try and speed up my healing. "I didn't think I'd have to fight them when they were dead."

" _Undead,_ " Alice corrects me. "The Queen has reanimated their bodies, like puppets to the string. They may lack their ranged staffs, but they can certainly move faster. We'll need to keep on our toes around them."

I silently agree with her advice, but I still have a bad feeling about coming here. If the Queen has this much power left over, what else does she have in store for us?

"You can go talk to the White King," Alice says as she points to a distant set of platforms beyond a broken part of this area's wall. "I'll go and find what's across these platforms. I shan't be long."

I don't have the chance to speak up before she runs off to her chosen path.

* * *

I move along the tile path, and pass by a few broken, human-sized chess pieces of white and red colors. Each piece is held in place by smothering vines, and a giant spiked rock forces me to walk around it to reach the King. Up close, the King's face has a beard along his cheeks and chin. His hat has a large cross on top of it, adding to his royal appearance.

His eyes flick over to me as I step into his line of sight. He instantly states, "You fight alongside Alice Liddel, but I don't know who you are," with a deep voice that sounds like two rocks being smoothly ground together.

"Forgive me, Your Majesty," I reply with a formal bow as I recognize this giant chess piece is royalty, "my name is Kyle Zuclair. I am a recent friend of Alice Liddel, and we both are trying to discover our lost memories."

"How recent of a friend do you mean?" the King asks. "Is this after the Red Queen's defeat?"

"You could say that, yes," I reply as I spin my right hand around in a dismissive manner. "I have found out that I was a former test subject of the Mad Hatter. I escaped his labs shortly before the Red Queen's reign ended, and have been training to be a warrior for Wonderland ever since."

"Training is often misused," the King says with a stone-cold expression. "It leads to overconfidence, which in turn leads to preventable tragedy."

"I've already had my share of tragedy, Your Majesty." I reply with a click of my tongue. Then again, this King probably hasn't seen my exploits, bound up as he is.

I take a breath to speak further, but instead turn around as I hear something approach us. It turns out to be Alice, who gives a sad looks to the King.

"The Red Kingdom's in ruins," she says to the bound ruler as she walks over to me, "but you're no better off!"

"When you defeated her," the King angrily replies, "I tried to reclaim the castle. But, I was set upon by her monstrosities. The malignant royal bitch still reigns!"

"We're here to petition her," Alice states with a frown. "We must get inside."

"The only way in is through me," the King says. "Sacrifices must be made." My eyes widen at this statement, but Alice doesn't seem upset by it at all.

"Those who say so usually mean they should be made by others." Alice's lack of concern has me worried. I choose to step into the conversation.

"Wait, wait, Your Highness," I say with raised hands, "you can't die just yet! What if there's some kind of underground resistance, waiting for the right moment to rescue you?"

"A noble thought, but a futile one," the King replies with a frown. "The Queen made sure I saw every single one of my soldiers be killed. She then left me here to rot away with my memories, and my overconfidence."

My jaw hangs open; the advice he just gave me is advice he failed to use. That's so sad.

"As for your statement," the King says to Alice with a stronger tone, "cynicism is a disease! It can be cured. Once inside, beware of the oversized killer that patrols her domain. Never confront him, he is invincible. Now, cut me loose! I'll show you the meaning of sacrifice."

The King sets his eyes to the distance with a solemn expression. I stand frozen at what's about to happen. Alice summons the Hobby Horse and prepares to strike him down, and I can't force myself to look away.

With one focused swing, Alice shatters the King's body, and the vines that hold him in place, to pieces. What remains of his face shows the pain he must have felt at the moment of death.

Alice then, for some reason, holds the Hobby Horse straight up before her. Her eyes close as she bows her head. It then hits me what she's doing; she's showing her respect to the King, as a fighter and warrior.

I had read something like this while training in the Grove. This respect was done by the _samurai_ and _shogun_ warriors to mark their honor to superiors. I quickly copy Alice's movements with the Automaton Hammer, but it doesn't feel the same when I do it. Maybe the weapon's the wrong one to use here?

Alice doesn't hold this pose for very long before she tells me, "Let's go." I dismiss the Hammer, and follow her beneath the White King's hanging face. I mutter a silent prayer to the deceased ruler as we enter a narrow chamber.

The walls here teem with decayed flesh and crumbling stone, further proof the castle has been like this for a long while. One door turns out to break under Alice's Horse, and we enter inside to find a Dr. Wilson memory.

He has a solemn tone of voice when he says, " _Games, too, require hard choices. Unpleasant sacrifices must often be made to accomplish a desired goal._ "

I agree with his words, though I wish he could have said it them in a different way.

* * *

We pass through the smaller chamber, and a red metal door swings open for us. We move into what appears to be a main room of the castle. The candles here have long since melted away, their wax frozen in midair like hanging blood. Chandeliers hang on the walls, their metal frames rusted through by time.

Arched windows shine along the far wall, the vines and flesh that cover the shattered panes not enough to block the sunlight. A carving of the Clubs suit is beneath each window, and are equally aged in appearance. The floor is split into neatly-arranged stone squares, but large areas have broken apart into deep chasms.

The far end of this room has a smaller outer chamber, beyond a short set of wooden stairs. A window is on either side of this chamber, and a heart-shaped altar covered with dried red candle wax rests at the far wall. Above that altar is a large portrait of some monstrous woman. I can't make out the details from where I currently stand, but it certainly looks fearsome. Is this what Hysteria meant when she said, 'Fear is the only power that matters'?

We move over to the picture, and the stairs actually hold our weight. Alice goes to a Nan Sharpe memory to the left, and shatters it. I look at the portrait as I hear Nan speak back to Alice: " _Every picture tells a story. You wouldn't tolerate a book without pictures when you were a girl._ "

I can certainly imagine a story for the human-shaped creature in the portrait. Its skin is a pinkish-red, a crown of tentacles curving out from its pale face. The face seems to split down the middle, a mask to hide some other form. Stitchings stretch across its chest, and something is beneath them. The true Queen, I suspect, is much more inhuman.

The portrait's eyes move to face me. I can't move, or look away. Whispers overlap one another in my ears. Then, the commanding voice from outside-the Queen's voice-comes though crystal clear: " _Beauty is in the eye of the beholder._ "

Someone touches my shoulder, and I break free from the portrait's gaze. Alice looks at me in concern, and then shoots a dark glare at the portrait. She seems to know what just happened. When I look back at the picture, it's eyes are back to their original state. Did I imagine them moving, or is this the work of the Queen?

Alice pats my shoulder, and I follow her back into the main room. The paths to our left and right are gone, but a Pressure Pad rests to our left. Alice stands on it, and two metal platforms like the one outside the castle float up from far below. They float by some unknown force, since they just have spiked rocks on their bottom parts. Alice drops a Clockwork Bomb on the Pad, and we jump across before the bomb blows up. Alice even gets some teeth along the way.

We pass through a smaller arch into what used to be a side room, but now looks as ruined as the main room. A Snouts snorts from nearby, and Alice the first to spot it mounted on the upper left part of the arch. She peppers it up, but nothing seems to happen at first glance. It's only when we look back out across the chasm that we see a small area has opened up. But, this area is on the side of a wall—quite hard to get to.

As luck would have it, there's a Pressure Pad on this side that brings up a steam pot to this new location. I stay on the Pad as Alice calculates the jump distance in her mind. It actually doesn't take her very long to figure it out, and she quickly places a Clockwork Bomb on the Pad. She rides the steam up to its top point, twirls back over, and lands safely just before the Bomb explodes.

"We'll have to ride the steam carefully to get to that keyhole-like space," she says. "It's a pretty risky shot. Do you want to try it?"

I pause for a second as I realize she's actually letting me choose. How often has that happened in our journey?

"Let's try it," I reply after a moment. "There's probably something important behind there. But," I continue after I realize how complex the jump looks, "I'm fine if you want me to stay here."

"That would probably be the best," she says with an apologetic look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but you don't seem ready to take unnecessary risks in this place."

I accept her apology with a smile, and a wave of my hand. She seems the better at controlling her position in midair, since she has those twirls to re-position herself. All I can do is channel extra power into my jump, which puts me in trouble if that jump doesn't work out like I thought it would.

I stay on the Pad to help Alice cross over, and she makes after riding the steam for a few seconds. I dimly hear the voice of Arthur Liddel a few seconds later as he says, " _No bearskin rug before the hearth, no deer antlers on the wall, no taxidermic abominations in the house! Demeans the creature's dignity!_ "

I tilt my head at the word 'taxidermic'. I don't think I've ever heard it before, or ever want to hear it again.

Alice comes back via the same way she went in, and tells me some teeth were in there, along with that memory I heard. We move back into the side room, and Alice points to two holes in the floor covered by rubbery strands of flesh. They fall apart with a good smash of our heaviest weapons. Alice jumps down, but I hesitate when my hole reveals a slanted path to a new room. I wait for Alice to jump back up from her hole, and we take the new path together. It leads to a toadstool spring that goes up to a small alcove.

Another flesh wall blocks some golden teeth from Alice, until she smashes through it. She then joins me by a large arm that holds a golden key with a heart-shaped jewel inside it. This looks like that fish-chain statue in the Grove, and Alice gives it a good pull. A distant _rumble_ something's changed back where we came from, and we head over there the same way we got over here.

Once we get back to the first area, I see another card-suit platform has appeared. It rises and falls every few moments, and we time our jumps across like before. We then ride a steam pot up to an upper balcony. The railings here are intact, despite their rotten state, and Alice finds a few extra teeth before we move on.

We pass right through a smaller chamber with a bookshelf mostly covered in melted wax. No use pulling a book out of _there_.

As we approach a large hole in the chamber's wall, another section of wall falls apart. A loud, female grunt echoes around us; the Queen is watching.

Alice and I walk onto a broken space of stone outside the castle's rooms. Another flesh-wall is in the distance, but it probably won't provide any shelter from the Queen's anger.

We're in _her_ domain, after all...

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. Kyle and Alice have begun their trek through Queensland, and things have already started going bad. What else will they encounter? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **Did you find the 'Game of Thrones' reference? If so, let me know; I'd be glad to hear how you think it'll fit into the story. That was a bit of a jump into uncharted territories, so I hope it turned out alright for you.**

 **Also, as usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	30. Crushed under FLESH

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter of the story. Our journey into Queensland continues!**

 **Just to warn you, this chapter is... odd. Looking over it, I want to warn you all that this chapter will get a bit gruesome, and psychological. But, that's why this story is rated 'Mature', right? In any case, I'm letting you know beforehand in case any of you might get disgusted. Those of you who have played 'Madness Returns' may remember how disgusting Queensland can be.**

 **Moving on, I am glad that my story has gotten some recent favorites and comments. It seems some of you are wanting to see when Alice and Kyle meet the Red Queen. That won't happen for a bit of time, I think, but that doesn't mean the Red Queen won't exert her influence against these intruders. Keep watch!**

 **Now, the DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author uses their OC's and any custom characters/elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

Alice fires a tea grenade at the breakable wall, and it shatters apart. We use another steam pot to reach a room farther up along the castle. We have to walk up another set of wooden stairs before we step into a large chamber. This place has a few more windows, a large set of melted candles, and even a lantern that leaks melted wax onto the ground.

The Queen's voice speaks to us through the breeze, her voice mixed with several others: " _Off… with… their… heads!_ "

As soon as she finishes, more Card Guards rise from the ground to fight us, both red and black colors. They all move eerily along the ground, and they outnumber us.

Alice summons the Vorpal Blade and gets straight to hacking. I stay by her with the Automaton Hammer, and swing the weapon into a charging Guard. Its bones actually break under the impact with a loud _crunch_. However, its body then glows with that same dark energy. I pound the Hammer into the reviving body, and the Guard breaks apart for good.

Claws dig into my back and push me forward. I recover and spin around with a quick swing. A red-colored Guard's head flies off its body as I strike it. A black-colored Guard slashes at me a second later. I can't react quickly enough to block it, and more of my blood seeps out of my skin. Anger now mixes with my battle fury.

I use this anger to pound the red Guard to bits. I then teleport back over and over, until I bump into a wall. I look at Alice and see her smash a Guard's body in half with the Hobby Horse. She then carries her swing into the ground to wipe that Guard out before it can revive. She's certainly holding her own.

I summon the Incense Cup, and fire several shots at the closest Guard. The undead soldier stumbles back from the concentrated fire, and then falls prone. I teleport over and fire several shots right into its head. It breaks apart into tiny pieces, and the dark energy around it fades.

Another Guard slashes at me, but I drop the Hammer and flip end-over end before its attack connects. I summon the Ice Wand, its cold no comfort against my wounds. I fall back into the familiar pattern of move and attack. But, I can now use what training I can recall in the Grove to enhance my fighting skill.

I fire a few bolts into a group of Guards that move towards Alice, and then teleport back over to my Hammer to pick it up. Only one Guard slows down from the bolts, so I focus on it with the Hammer as I charge into the group. The frozen Guard's body actually breaks a bit easier than the others. Before I can shatter it, though, the other two Guards try to slice me together. I teleport back, and Alice turns around in time to bash the reforming body to bits.

I let my instincts do the talking. My body ducks, weaves, and teleports around any attack. My swings are quicker and more precise. Soon enough, both Guards fall to my battle fury, and warrior's training. I crack a smile as I look over the shattered corpses of the Queen's servants. I'm still stronger than them.

The Hobby Horse neighs just before the ground shakes a bit from what I assume to be its explosive impact. Alice sure is using that weapon to the best of her ability. She also seems to be getting stronger, not that she was weak to begin with. I turn to face her, and see her teleport around the room to grab any spare teeth that are left.

* * *

At that moment, the wall to my left is pierced through by a giant scythe. The wall actually pulses, and _bleeds_ , as a humongous creature forces its way through the fleshy stone. It stands more than twice our size, its weapon almost as tall as itself. Its body is made up of several Card Guards of different suits stitched together, and a giant horned cap rests over its head. Fleshy tentacles writhe around its face, neck, and even through its eye sockets.

"The Executioner!" Alice shouts out, just before the giant cries out his arrival in a booming voice. It then strides towards me, each step loud enough to echo in my ears. I teleport back towards Alice, and she fires a teapot grenade just as I get to her. The grenade hits its mark, and makes the Executioner's flesh hiss, but it doesn't slow down at all.

My jaw drops in shock, and the Executioner laughs at Alice for her efforts. Then, it suddenly brings its scythe down on us. I teleport out of the way, and the weapon carves a new mark into the stone floor. I summon the Incense Cup and fire at its tentacle-filled head, but the bullets just bounce off harmlessly. It now laughs at me as its body glows with a huge amount of that dark energy the Guards used.

' _It's… healing…_ ' I think as I run as close to the wall as I can while still firing, ' _That energy is healing it as fast as we can hurt it. This thing really_ is _invincible!_ '

"Oh, we're idiots!" I hear Alice say out loud as I hear—and smell—the Pepper Grinder's fire. "Don Quixote had a better chance with his windmills, and without risk of decapitation!"

My question as to who 'Don Quixote' is changes into a scream as I duck beneath the Executioner's swing. I teleport in the first direction I think of away from this thing. We need to get out of this room, as soon as possible.

I look around the room for an exit; my eyes widen as I don't see one. The path we took in won't help us, and another set of red doors are closed off. We're trapped with this beast! There's no way out!

No, wait! The second set of doors are opening?! Who could have—?!

"A prudent exit is no less so for being hasty!" the Cheshire Cat shouts to us as he appears beside the now-open doors. I get the message, and teleport over and over until I reach his position.

"Thanks a lot, Cheshire!" I shout with genuine happiness as I run out into a ruined hallway. Alice joins me a second later, and the doors shut behind us. I jump as I hear pounding from the other side; the Executioner's still in there, and he wants out. Alice grabs my hand and pulls me forward at breakneck speed. My arms and back ache from their slowly-healing wounds, and I stumble forward as best I can.

A loud _crash_ sounds from behind us. Then come a series of loud stomps. I risk a glance back, and break into a full-on sprint when I see the Executioner has burst through the doors. He then begins to swing his scythe in a circular pattern on the ground. He wants to cut us to ribbons!

"Go, go, go!" Alice shouts as she also starts running. We both push ourselves forward, and then teleport as quickly as we can when our legs give out. The hallway extends at a slow curve, and then suddenly stops at a wall. A large cluster of vines hangs to our right, and beyond that is a deep chasm. To our left is another keyhole.

"Into the keyhole," Alice orders me, "move!"

She shrinks down as I see the Executioner round the curve, his scythe still spinning. I shrink down and follow Alice inside a few seconds before the Executioner can reach us. I follow behind Alice as the giant roars down the keyhole, unable to follow. His breath makes me gag, the keyhole's tight quarters forcing the air past us both as we escape his wrath.

* * *

We emerge from the keyhole into some kind of music hall. A large organ rests to one side, its body covered with webs. A few dried pustules are here as well, which Alice shoots apart with the Grinder after she catches her breath. It takes me a few seconds longer to make my heart stop from bursting out of my chest.

"That… that was terrifying!" I get this out between deep breaths, my hands on my knees after I revert to normal size. "We just barely made it out!"

"We certainly had a close shave," Alice comments as she absorbs some teeth and petals from the pustules. "But, at least we now know what the White King meant by 'oversized killer'. I can't believe the Executioner's been corrupted like this."

"You _knew_ that thing?" I point back down the keyhole in utter disbelief as I ask this.

"Yes," Alice replies without losing her cool, "from the first time I ever came here. The Cheshire Cat was ordered by the Queen to be decapitated, but the Cat had no actual body to sever his head from. That lead to a big argument between the Executioner, Queen, and King of Hearts about whether it was possible to sever a head from a nonexistent body. Quite silly, really."

"There was a _King of Hearts_?" I nearly scream this at Alice, amazed at what I'm hearing. "What the fuck happened to _him_!?"

"I killed him when he executed the White Queen, that's what!" Alice shouts back with sudden anger. "Must you know every little detail about everything?!"

Alice's angry look shuts me up, and I walk away from her to avoid further conflict. I step into a darker space of the room. My eyes adjust, and I spot some dried pustules to smash. There's also another flesh-wall in the floor, with the white glow of a memory inside a small hole.

Alice eventually comes over to where I am, and I leave her to smash everything open. The memory inside turns out to be a Liddel memory, with Arthur speaking about an oddly-relevant issue to our current circumstance: " _A weapon's intended function is almost beside the point. Ultimately, it's only as good as the person who wields it._ "

I reflect on Arthur's words as Alice leads us to a breakable wall, and breaks it open. The Executioner growls, or moans, somewhere behind us as we come to a space open to the outside haze.

The skies are still a white-brown, and the wind whistles in our ears. Large towers, and giant tentacles, lie in the distance. The gap to our left is too far, and too deep, for us to dare jumping across. However, there is a stone space that juts out from a nearby wall.

The Cat appears on the same small space as us, and looks to each of us before he talks: "The Queen's guardian rarely leaves his filthy lair. But, you two are special." He gives his usual grin before he vanishes, and I don't feel any better from his words.

* * *

I follow Alice to the lower space, where another golden key hangs from another flesh-fist. Alice pulls the chain as I notice another winged tongue fly off into the sky. I don't try to shoot it down, and a new set of steam pots rise up from the haze. We ride them over to another walled-off space with more vines, and a closed metal door at the far end.

" _You face your deaths!_ " the Queen shouts in the wind. Several Card Guards, and some Insidious Ruin, rise up to face us. The 'death' we face threatens to overwhelm us by sheer numbers. Alice summons the Hobby Horse as I summon the Automaton Hammer. I charge in alongside Alice, and we are instantly surrounded.

I swing, spin, and slam into every form that I can see. Bones crack, Ruin splatters, and bodies fly all around me. But, for each foe that I take down, another gets in my face. I don't get a moment's peace between each action; there's always someone else to take down.

Each slash hurts for only a moment, and makes my rage grow. This rage flows into my strikes, and back into the enemy. I move like a machine of battle; calculated, precise, powerful.

At some point, I pound yet another Guard into the stone, and dodge away from a strike aimed at my side. I swing at this foe, and the Hammer slams into a female's skull. I stop short as this female flies into a nearby wall; none of the Guards look female.

As I look around and see no more enemies to fight, the truth hits me. I've just attacked Alice, my ally, without even realizing it. Why didn't I recognize her, when we've fought so often together?

I raise a hand toward Alice as she slumps to the ground. She quickly stands up on her own, her neck bent at a rakish angle. She hisses in pain as she places her hands around the affected area and snaps it back into place with a loud _crack_. I'm amazed her head is still attached.

It's kind of like the Executioner's blade, actually. Does this mean Alice has dealt with her head being cut off before now?

Alice walks slowly over to me, but she doesn't get far before we both hear a familiar booming cry from somewhere above us. We look around, and then jump back when the Executioner jumps down from a nearby spire. His impact nearly knocks me off my feet. I prepare to teleport away as the giant swings his scythe down in some kind of strike.

However, his strike falls short of us. A heartbeat later, the ground beneath us splits open into a black-and-red portal that spits blood into the air. We both fall through the portal, into a void straight out of my nightmares. Screams echo around us from the choking darkness. It fills every hole in my body that it can reach. I grab at Alice, but more darkness slip through my fingers.

Before I can scream for Alice, the void spits me out through another portal. I fall into a large puddle of blood, which, in turn, is on top of a mold-covered slab of stone. I spit out any blood that the void put in my mouth as my hands feverishly brush at my face. The screams fade to whispers, like the ones that have been present ever since Alice and I first stepped into Queensland.

 _Alice_! I jerk my body up to a sitting position, and then clutch my head as what blood remains in my injured body rushes down from my head. I look around in the hopes that she's nearby. All I see are the bodies of several white chess pieces, all bound by thick red tentacles and lattices of pulsing flesh. A closer look at the bodies show one other thing they have in common—none of them have heads.

The worst part comes when I realize Alice isn't anywhere in the room. Once again, I'm alone.

* * *

The Queen's laugh echoes through my head, along with the void's chorus of screams. I look to the bodies, and hear distinct voices of pain, terror, and suffering from each one. Flashes of chess pieces being decapitated fill my vision, and I can't block them out.

" _Can you feel it?_ " the Queen asks me. " _The agony of death. The moment these fools realized that they had no chance to live. The moment they became worthless, just like you!_ "

"No…" I whisper through clenched teeth. "I have… discipline!"

" _Discipline is worthless in battle! No ruler is ever completely honest, no warrior ever completely magnanimous. You have been learning things the wrong way._ "

"I won't be… intimidated by you! I fight to save Wonderland!"

" _Is that so? What will you save it from, exactly? This 'Ruin' that corrupts it? Do you know how it even got here, to begin with? Who made it come into being, like the rest of this world?_ "

I shudder at her words. They make sense too quickly. She can't be suggesting _Alice_ caused all this to happen, can she?

" _I have known Alice since the beginning of_ _Wonderland_." The Queen seems to read my thoughts as she answers my question. " _You are a newcomer, a peasant before me. Your experience is no greater than a worthless churl. To climb above that place is to defy your creator!_ "

"NO! Get out of my head!"

I punch myself in the face, and the screams stop short. My nose turns cold as my mists start their healing. I stand up and take another look around me. The corpse of one headless white chess piece hangs in front of a wall with several cracks. It looks like the wall could be smashed through with one good bash of the Automaton Hammer.

The desire to get out of here overrides any concern I have for destroying the body of a former soldier. I smash through the body, and then the wall, with two solid swings. A dark stone corridor lies beyond, and I walk down it without looking back. I need to find Alice, now; this separation was from hostile forces, not an accident or our own free will.

I must return to Alice. That's all that matters.

* * *

The dark corridor has cracks along the walls, some deeper than others. Water, or some other liquid, drip through these cracks. The air has a heavy smell that sticks in my nose, no matter how many times I rub it. My eyes adjust quickly to the darkness—I imagine they glow a bright green against the lack of light. My head, thankfully, remains silent save for my own thoughts.

I don't have much to think about, really. I have to find Alice again, and then we both need to defeat the Red Queen. I guess this path will eventually lead me back to Alice, but I can't predict the future.

The corridor eventually ends at a small wooden door. I push it open, and step into a small room filled with sunlight. It takes a long time for my eyes to readjust from the corridor. When I do, I see two large red chairs sit at opposite ends of the room's red-and-black walls. A large window with rotting frames and broken glass brings sunlight inside. There's also another door to my left.

Since that door is the only way out of here, I open it and step through. I end up in a room exactly the same as the one I just left. No, wait, that door leading to the dark corridor is gone. I turn to go back, and stop when I see the room's door is closed. I tug at the handle, but it refuses to budge.

I frown: this must be the Queen's work. No sense in going back now, so I turn to face the rest of the room. Maybe there's something by one of the chairs, or the window, that can help me? Do I have the time to spare for this searching?

' _You won't know until you look,_ ' my subconscious tells me. ' _Who knows how the next room will be?_ '

I sigh as I agree with my inner thoughts. I move over to one of the chairs, and poke and prod at every possible spot where something could be hiding.

Of course, there's nothing. This just makes me angry that I've wasted my time. But, there might be something with the other chair, or the window.

Nothing. Nothing? _Nothing_!

I growl in frustration. Every second I waste here is another second Alice is alone. She can take care of herself, sure, but she appreciates my help all the same. It feels good that the creator of this world, a world I was once a part of, is happy. I should make sure she stays that way.

I walk through this room's left door… and into another room just like the other two. Once again, the door closes behind me. No amount of tugging opens it. I even use the Hammer, but the Queen's dark energy bounces my weapon out of my hands.

She's trying to keep me from Alice. I can't let this continue.

* * *

After I pick up my Hammer and go through two more doors in this seemingly-endless loop, I start to consider the option of making a new way out. I turn to the wall to the left of the doors, and use my Hammer to bash it apart. The stone crumbles easily before my attack, and reveals a dark tunnel of flesh.

As a rotten smell hits my nose, a giant heart leaps out from the tunnel. It knocks me to the floor before I can move. Its body beats every few seconds as its claws dig into my body. Razor-sharp teeth bite my chin, just barely missing my neck. I teleport back as it swings a raised claw at my face, and get to my feet. I grit my teeth as I feel the hole in my neck pump more and more blood out of me.

I summon the Incense Cup as the heart starts to crawl on all fours. It dodges a few shots with some quick scuttling, and then leaps at me with a growling cry. I bring the Cup up into its path and fire. It flies off course, and latches to the wall like a splayed insect. It falls to the floor with wriggles and thrashes, several holes spitting out blood and a gooey white substance.

I don't stop firing until the Cup overloads. Incense fills the room, which makes my wounds sting. I cough a few times as the sweet-smelling substance clears. The heart is broken into smaller, wriggling, pieces of flesh and teeth. A copious amount of blood is on the floor as well, mine and the heart's.

' _No sense crying over spilled blood,_ ' I reflect as I turn back to the flesh tunnel. No new creatures come out as I look inside the small space. There's only darkness below, but there's some sunlight far above. A few large, fleshy vines trail up the side of the tunnel, vines that seem large enough to hold something's weight. How else did that moving heart get up here? The other bits of flesh don't seem thick enough for me to grab.

Before I take the jump, I walk over to the window and look through it. The only thing outside is the brown haze from when Alice and I first arrived in Queensland. My hope sinks a little as I don't see any nearby tower or crumbled rock space. I dare not jump out the window—I don't know how far of a drop it is to the bottom.

I go back to the flesh-tunnel, dismiss the Cup, and make a charged jump over to the vines. I splay my limbs out, and manage to snag hold. I keep hold for several seconds as my heart beats very loudly in my chest. The vines have a strange slickness to their surface, and I fear that I'll drop at any second. But, I don't slide down a bit.

Nothing changes in the tunnel. The air has the same rotten smell, the is the same dark red. The slickness of the vines doesn't seep through my shirt, or even soak my gauntlets. I eventually realize that I'm going to have to make a move if I want something to change.

I reach up the vines, and grasp a higher spot with my hand. The vine stays firm. I reach with my other hand, and grab a nearby tendril. It also holds. I then raise one of my feet up to a gap between two vines. I dig my boot inside the gap, and press down. It holds my weight.

To complete my test, I raise my other foot up to a thicker section, and push up with it. The vine doesn't falter a bit as I climb up to where my hands are, and grab newer spots higher up.

I smile. I've found my way out.

I slowly climb up the vines, and towards the sunlight.

* * *

The sunlight turns out to come from a few holes in a sequence of red tiles. The holes are large enough for me to poke my body out of, after I adjust my eyes to the light all around me. It looks like I'm on the roof of some kind of tower. I rest my foot on the vines as I look around as best I can.

There isn't much to see. The haze is still here, along with several other stone towers of various heights. Some of them have pointed rooftops, while others have battlements around flat spaces. Giant tentacles rest in the distance like statues. The walls of the different towers here are partially covered with red flesh, like the flesh wants to devour the stone.

A screech sounds from far off. I duck my head back down into the flesh-tunnel and hold my breath for several seconds. When I poke my head back out, I see another tongue with feathered wings perched on the tip of a pointed tower's roof. It looks around despite having no eyes, and then flies off again. It doesn't notice me.

I raise my body mostly out of the hole. There should be some kind of space I could land on, or jump to. As a test, I press a hand down onto a nearby tile. It bends after a small bit of force, and I pull back before I break it apart. I suspect time hasn't been kind to these tiles, or to any part of Queensland.

I suddenly feel sad that I never saw this place when it looked new and beautiful. All that's left now is an old husk, a shell that's already started to crack. Is the Queen of Hearts like that, now—an elderly, withered, decayed being who clings to whatever shred of power she can? I'll probably get an answer to that when Alice and I confront her.

Of course, I first have to _get_ to Alice, and that's kind of hard to do right now.

As I look down the side of the tower, my stomach falls into my gut. The sheer height of this tower makes the haze block all sight of the ground. I never recall having a fear of heights, but some primal distress makes me look back up to the towers. The tiles can probably hold my weight for a moment or two, which might be all I need to make a charged jump.

I find a possible option on the inside of a nearby stone wall; a smaller tower with battlements around a flat, tiled roof. It's near enough that I can reach it with a charged jump, and high enough that the fall probably won't hurt that bad. I look around for a few more moments, but no better option comes into view.

The haze looks thicker, now. A dark presence tickles my mind. The Queen is watching. I need to act.

I place one foot onto a tile, and my hands on two others. All three tiles bend down, but don't break. I take a deep breath, and then jerk myself up onto the roof. A sharp _crack_ from the tiles makes me wave my arms for balance. I take short breaths as I reposition myself. I need to concentrate on this jump.

My mists channel into my feet as I place one foot back. The tiles wiggle harshly, dangerously. They'll break at any moment. I must have faith this will succeed, because I won't easily get a second chance.

I take a step forward, and leap.

The tiles explode from my jump; shards fly past my body as I rise into the air. The haze doesn't hold me back as I soar without wings. I fall on a direct course to the place I want to go to. I right myself in the air as best I can. The wind roars in my ears as I crouch myself into a ball to block out the impact's force.

My impact shatters the tiles apart. They don't help me at all. The shards now fall around me as I tumble down another flesh-tunnel. No vines are here to support me. Instead, a giant mouth with rotting, bladed teeth gnashes at the exit far, far below. I have seconds before those teeth grind me to bloody pieces.

Instinct takes over. I summon the Automaton Hammer, switch it to 'RM', and fire a shot at the mouth. The kickback from the shot spins me head-over heels, but the projectile hits its mark with a loud _boom_. Burning pieces of flesh and bone fly up, pelt my face and body. I shield myself as best I can, and fall through the hole I created.

I slam onto solid stone. My right arm takes the rest of my body's weight. The bones in that arm shatter beneath my skin and muscles with a brutal _CRACK_.

I scream. My voice echoes back to me, the only sound I can hear. The only sound I can make to express this agonizing pain. I numbly roll onto my back, and feel the muscles twitch and flex on their own. I scream until my throat is raw, and then scream in silence.

* * *

The Red Queen laughs in my head. Her voice forces my eyes open; I didn't know they were closed. I force myself to stop screaming. My right arm now rests limp on the cold, wet stone. I look at the grey haze, and then tilt my head to each side to see what's around me.

The wall is to my left, the stone mixed with red flesh. Brown vines rest on the wall's base. On the right is an open space of stone, with another piece of the wall nearby. More brown vines rest along the stone near the center of the space. A few pustules, these ones white and fresh, rest on the edges of my sight. The air is thinner than up at the tower, but that's the least of my concerns.

" _Hahaha!_ " The Queen's laughter bounces in my skull as she mocks my pain. " _You see what your 'power' brings you? I have the true power, here! You are but an ant beneath my heel, to be squashed at my command!_ "

I roll over onto my left side. My right arm flops uselessly around as I push myself up to my feet with my left hand. I stand up, every movement of my broken arm reminding me that it's broken. My mists don't help against the pain.

My eyes widen as five Card Guards burst from beneath the stone. The vines across the space scatter like leaves before a great wind. One red Guard is larger than the rest. It wears a suit of chainmail around its body, and drags a large poleaxe that ends in a heart-shaped blade. The poleaxe looks as long as I am tall, the blade wickedly sharp in the light.

The regular Guards charge at me, and I teleport back as far as I can. I summon the Hammer, but I can't lift it up correctly. I switch to the Incense Cup, but I can't hold it right to fire it. I'm left with the Ice Wand, which I can hold reasonably well in one hand. By this time, the Guards are almost on top of me again. I teleport away once more, and raise the Wand to face the closest Guard.

I fire bolts over and over. The Guards dodge some of the bolts, but some do get hit. Their bodies slow down after one bolt, and freeze up after a few more. I focus on the closest Guards, and then teleport over to the far end with the pustules.

I then realize how close the Armored Card Guard is to me. It swings its poleaxe in a wide arc that slams into my stomach. I fly into one of the pustules. It breaks apart when I hit it, and a smelly, sticky white liquid covers my body. This liquid seeps through my clothes, and coats my nostrils with a gut-wrenching smell. Tears spring to my eyes, but they just mix with the pus.

My stomach heaves as I stumble away, and I vomit up a nonexistent piece of food. I barely dodge the Armored Guard's next attack, but the impact's force knocks me off my feet. I roll onto my injured arm, and the pain breaks through whatever discipline I have left. I cry out through my burning throat as the ground rumbles, and Unleash my anger.

Slithering tentacles burst up from the ground around me. They glow with the Queen's dark energy as they coil me in their grip. My anger thrashes, locked inside my body as my mists try to escape. To my surprise, my mists fail to Unleash. The Queen's power is actually stronger than my Unleashed rage. I'm trapped!

The tentacles tug at my limbs, stretch my unbroken bones to the breaking point. My nightmares become reality as I let out a gurgling scream, the pus and bile in my throat enough to give voice to my cries. I snort pus out of my nostrils, spit drool and bile from my mouth. My skin burns as my heart crashes against my chest.

The tentacles tug once again, and pull me down into the ground. Rotten flesh closes around me instead of soil. The flesh rubs against every part of me as I fall deeper and deeper into Queensland. The light from the hole above vanishes as a fresh coating of skin stretches across it.

I can't see, but my other senses still work. The tentacles release me as the tunnel comes to life. It pulses, expands, and contracts over and over. Liquids I can't identify wash over me, fill every hole they can reach. My clothes are soaked through as I struggle to climb, or swim, back up. The tunnel just contracts harder, pushes me farther down.

I slobber and drool as I try to grab something. The tunnel responds with brutal squeezes during its contractions. I draw my arms in, and curl up into a ball against the flesh. I just want this to end. I want out of this tunnel, this prison of flesh. It's all I can feel, all that exists around me.

It's become all I know. It's all I am, now. Flesh. Flesh! _FLESH!_

' _Let me out,_ ' I mentally scream as I start to lose my mind from the pulsing _FLESH_. ' _Let me out, let me out let me out letmeoutletmeoutletmeoutletmeoutLETMEOUT!_ '

I suddenly fall through an opening with one final contraction. I feel completely naked, like I've just been born again. I relearn pain as I land hard onto a small pool of blood and mucus. I don't have a voice to scream with, or air in my lungs to breathe. Every hole inside me is filled with the _FLESH_ , but I hear the kindred sound of blood as it drips onto the ground around me.

My mind screams of the _FLESH_ that I feel below me, and sense all around me. Yet, a small part remains sane enough to form actual words. I mouth these words against the _FLESH'S_ embrace, and whisper them in my mind to anything that can hear it.

' _Alice. Help me, Alice. Please…_ '

Then, all I know is _FLESH_.

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. I know this is a pretty disgusting point to leave Kyle, but I think things will get better for him soon. But, the Red Queen probably has more tricks up her sleeve. Stay tuned to find out what will happen next!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	31. The Traitor's Command

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **Like the last chapter, this one has some more surreal and mature imagery, and I do hope the 'flesh' images from last chapter wasn't too upsetting. UNLIKE the last chapter, this one also has some beta-content images and concepts (such as monsters and environments).** **Just to let you know.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' franchise belong to Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any special custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

 _Drip, drip, drip._

This sound needles into my brain, hollow and simple. I open my eyes to a gray haze. I rest on a surface I can't see, only feel. I rise to my knees as I take a breath. The air tastes stale, but not unpleasant.

The drip continues. I slowly turn my head around to find the source of the sound. I only see gray. I rub my eyes with my hands, but nothing changes. I look at myself, and I'm completely naked. This isn't a problem.

The drip grows louder, and joins with other drips of different pitches. Soon, the drips become a single trickle, a stream, and then a thunderous roar. I fall into a cold liquid, and sink to an unseen depth. The liquid doesn't blur the haze above, and I breathe the liquid like air.

The liquid ripples from a pulse. A moment later, there's another pulse. The pulses continue in a pattern that echoes my heartbeat. I sink further, my fall slow and unchanging. I can't do anything to change it. I don't want to.

The liquid shifts me upright. I float down to a heart several times my size that glows with its own red light. The light splays out in all directions, and doesn't hurt my eyes when I look at it. The heart's light gives off heat, as well. I welcome the heat in contrast to the liquid's cold. The two balance each other out. I float in front of the heart, content.

My eyes feel heavy. Something whispers in my ears. The heart's light glows brighter with each beat. My eyes close as the light shines too strong to look at.

* * *

When I open my eyes, I stand on top of a giant lily pad in the center of a beautiful lake. The sky is filled with dominoes, gears, and other trinkets, all giant-sized as they hang on a calm wind. Other lily pads float nearby, and a distant waterfall brings more water to the lake. The air is cleaner than in the haze, and I slowly breathe it in. This reminds me very much of the Vale of Tears.

A bubbling scream comes from below the water. I jerk my head down, and all the water I see turns into Ruin. Bubbles pop on the surface, and release wisps of choking smoke. The other lily pads catch fire and sink into the Ruin. The ooze bubbles more and more, the smoke now forming a dark cloud.

Flames lick the sides of my lily pad, and I jump straight up. I rocket into a gray, thundering sky. Thick clouds rain more Ruin down as winds whip the stuff all around me. Ruin burns on my skin, digs into my bones. It hurts. It hurts!

I cry out into the storm. A much louder cry replies from very close by. I turn in that direction, and a massive white doll face swallows me whole.

" _Pathetic,_ " Alice says as I fall into blackness. " _Absolutely pathetic. Why can't you stop this Ruin from corrupting Wonderland?_ "

I inhale, and I'm back at the red heart. The whispers from before return, slightly louder. I still can't figure them out, and the heart's light brightens to wipe away the rest of my focus. I shield my eyes with my hands as the light grows even brighter.

* * *

When I lower my hands, I stand on a broken metal catwalk in the Hatter's Domain. The skies are the same dark yellow, larger gears flying amidst small clouds. A distant pounding directs my gaze to a giant assembly plant with several fists pounding in sequence. A large conveyor belt nearby delivers pieces of scrap metal that the fists pound into identical square shapes.

The belt stretches down into a giant dome of rusted metal and twisted steel. The dome is mostly filled with Ruin and rusted metal. The pieces are fed into the dome without end, and the Ruin accepts it all.

Lightning flashes in the clouds. Thunder rumbles louder than the pounding fists. A piercing whistle shrieks in my ears as the sky catches fire. Red, orange, and yellow flames dance across the horizon; their heat drains my strength in an instant.

" _You didn't help me save this place, not in the slightest!_ " Alice angrily says as I feel, and see, my skin boil and bubble. " _You really are worthless._ "

I shut my eyes before they burn out, and melt into a puddle of goopy flesh.

I awaken back at the submerged red heart. Its heat is far more comforting than the Domain's fire. The whispers grow louder. This time, I pick up one word: " _… her…_ "

Then, the heart flashes again.

* * *

This time, I stand on a small block of ice in Tundraful. A Shipwreck Shark circles me from below the waves. Its jaws snap hungrily together. I look to the sky and see the frozen sun and smoking moon crying tears of Ruin.

The Shark suddenly lunges at me. I drop to all fours, and it flies over me. It splashes up a wave of water that chills me to the core. A moment later, the water turns into sticky Ruin that binds me to the ice.

I stumble over to the edge of the block, each step more strain on my body. I fall into Tundraful's waters, and sink down into the frigid sea. The Shark swims down after me. Its eyes glow brighter as we fall ever further down into the depths.

Something white appears on the head of the Shark, riding it. It's the white woman from my London nightmares. She cries more Ruin into the sea, large tentacles from her eyes. The carcasses of Barellbottom's fish-people float up around us, and the waters turn red.

" _We went through so much together,_ " the woman shouts to me with Alice's voice, " _But, you couldn't save anyone. I've lost so much because of you!_ "

Something long and rope-like flies into the Shark, shatters it to bits. The woman leaps into the waters, but another of these rope-like limbs wraps around her in an instant. She screams in agony as I see this thing is a blue-and-purple tentacle. The Kraken's tentacle. It breaks the woman in half, and she bleeds a torrent of Ruin into the ocean.

The Ruin turns into countless biting, gnashing leeches. They chew me apart by the individual bone. I don't have the strength to scream as they eat me alive.

Then, the red heart is before me again. My body is back; the leeches are gone. The whispers are almost understandable, but the words are warped. The word, " _her_ " is clear enough, but who is this 'her' supposed to mean? Alice? The Red Queen? The mermaid that was killed in the Depths? The 'Witch with Three Faces' that I defeated?

" _Find her…_ " the whispers say, just as the heart flashes again.

* * *

I now stand in a single point amidst the Vale of Doom's storm. Ruin has fused with the Vale's energies; the black stuff rains from the sky alongside fragments of stone, balls of fire, and shards of metal. I don't cover my ears; my attention is on what's in front of me.

I see a new Ruin, a _flying_ Ruin with an elongated body and countless small arms. It constantly drips pieces of itself, but doesn't lose its shape or size. Its white mask is large enough for three of me on top of each other to stand fully inside one of the eye sockets. It slowly flies out of my sight, and its screech almost knocks me to the ground.

I look into its open mouth to see countless smaller Ruin fall from its open jaws. Some of these Ruin have skinned wings, others have thrashing tentacles. Some are more machine than Ruin, and some don't have a doll-mask at all. These are just a few forms that I see fly past me, and land around me.

I try to summon a weapon, channel my mists, do _something_ against this amalgamation. I get nothing. The Ruin trample me beneath their slithering, endless numbers.

" _The Ruin are my foe, and mine alone,_ " Alice shouts in my ears amidst chitters, gurgles, screams and screeches. " _You have no chance against them, weak as you are. You should be my meat shield, and give your life some scrap of meaning!_ "

The Ruin clear away, and I'm back at the heart. It's heat now flows through me like fire, gives me power that beats back the cold. I look to my hands to see them covered in red-and-black fire. The fire of the Queen.

" _Find her,_ " the whispers command. " _Save her._ " The heart flashes before I can ask who the 'her' is.

* * *

I'm now in the Oriental Grove, in front of Caterpillar's sanctum. The sacred temple is destroyed, the simulacrum Alice and I saw earlier now in pieces. The sky is black; the Vale of Doom around the Grove has already been corrupted. Does this mean we've failed to save Wonderland?

The ground shakes as a gargantuan hand made of Ruin rises into the air. It then slams down on where I stand. I fit in just between the gap of two fingers, and stare as a completely new Ruin rises into view. It towers over the grove with long flowing hair, and a clean face.

The face turns to look at me. It's Alice's face, without any expression. Her eye sockets are hollowed out into infinite darkness. Ruin flows down her body in an endless stream.

" _You have already lost,_ " the Ruin-Alice states in Alice's voice. " _I am not who you think I am. You have been with a false image of me from the start. Since you believed that image as the true me, I have destroyed it. Now, it's your turn._ "

I gasp as thousands of hardened needles spring from the Ruin-Alice's fingers, and pierce through my body. My blood spurts out from any open gap as my bones, muscles, skin and hair wilt and shrink to an empty shell.

" _The Ruin is the only fate left for you,_ " Alice's voice cries out. " _It is the rightful fate for Wonderland, and all its denizens. There is no other option!_ "

I gasp in air as I return to the heart, my body completely reformed. Its heat now envelops me completely. My flesh twists and cracks into a new, stronger form. The fire pumps along with my blood and raw hatred against the Ruin that have corrupted Wonderland. I feel no pain from this change. Everything is clear, now.

These visions are of every location in Wonderland that we have explored falling to the Ruin. This is what could happen if Alice and I fail to save Wonderland. This Ruin will take over, consume everything in its path. It will show no mercy to what once existed. It will use the choice bits for itself, to make a new and greater form from Wonderland's carcass.

But, there's a new problem that we have to deal with; a false Alice Liddel. There's another part of her that wants to accept the corruption, to destroy whatever trust she and I hold to each other. If the false Alice succeeds, then the Ruin will become the new Wonderland. The Alice that I want to help save Wonderland will be consumed, maybe even transformed into a nightmarish version of herself.

I can't let that happen. The false Alice must be defeated, to save everyone. Even the Red Queen. Come to think of it, are these visions her work? If so, then she's helped me understand the truth. She ripped apart my old self, and granted me new purpose.

I owe this task to her. I must not fail. Alice, and the Queen, must survive.

" _Find her,_ " the whispers echo together in the Red Queen's voice. " _Save her. Save her from herself._ "

The burning heart beats in time with my own heart. Its energy bleeds into mine as I state three words that echo my acceptance of what I have been shown: "Yes, my Queen."

The heart cracks apart, becomes a whirling portal of red-and-black energy. It sucks me in, and then spits me onto a large rock platform. The air around the space is blood-red, and a giant version of the Executioner watches from the sidelines. Card Guards, and a Menacing Ruin, freeze in place as they look at my new form.

Alice is here; the _false_ Alice, that is. Instead of her suited dress, she wears a robe of mangled body parts. Actually, that could just be her mangled _body_ , without any sort of clothing. Eyes are on hands, toes wiggle in place of teeth, lungs breathe outside a rib cage—those are just a few of the physical abominations I spot in her image. Her eyes are midnight-black, but her face shows her surprise as clear as day.

"False Alice!" I cry out. "You have threatened the Red Queen's survival with your presence! You will be punished! OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

* * *

The Executioner booms out a laugh, and tentacles suddenly lash into the space. They spear each creature on the space besides Alice and myself, and pull them away from us. This is our battlefield; _nothing_ will interrupt us.

With all distractions gone, I charge toward the false Alice with a roar. I summon the Automaton Hammer to my hands, and aim a spinning strike at her malformed face. She ducks and rolls to one side, and my swing slams into the stone. I whirl around with a second swing, but she's already slipped out of range.

She shouts gibberish at me from several of her mouths. She won't sway me with false words, or her false image! I charge at her again, and swing in an upward arc. She teleports back as a cloud of blood and viscous liquid to dodge my swing. She shouts at me again, and I just hear more lies.

I switch to the Ice Wand, and fire a few bolts from a distance. The last one strikes her in a malformed mouth, which shivers in place as it freezes up. The false Alice places a hand over that mouth and stops in her tracks. I teleport forward, and thrust the Wand into where her chest should otherwise be. She brings up a large, sharpened nail that extends from her other hand like a blade to block.

The two objects slide along each other and make sparks fly. I pull back, and thrust forward again. She blocks me again, but her weapon freezes up at the second strike. At the third strike, I scrape at her chest and pierce open a large eye. Blood spurts out as the false Alice stumbles back and clutches at the wound. The Executioner laughs triumphantly at my success.

The false Alice's eyes shift into a frown. She pulls out something from her back with a loud _squelch_ , and gives it a quick shake. Blood and pus fly off what seems to be a hammer-shaped bone that she holds in both her hands. She then teleports to me, and around me, not staying still for more than a second. I spin around and thrust with the Wand at where I think she'll be.

I miss.

Pain slams through my skull as something hits the back of my head. I stumble, and then teleport away to regain my senses. The Queen's fire washes over me, my mists a reddish-white as they patch my wound quicker than ever before. Something small hits my cheek, and I have to shield my arms from a barrage of teeth that smell like rotten flesh.

The onslaught stops after several seconds, and I see the false Alice holding a pig's skeletal mouth whose teeth are blackened by decay. As I look at the weapon, its wielder grinds a series of skeletal fingers at the back end to fire more stinky teeth at me. I teleport to one side, and switch over to the Incense Cup for some long-range fire of my own.

The Executioner growls out as our projectiles clash against each other. I hit her, and get hit, but not enough to cause major damage. Her weapon shuts off first with a burst of green gas, and she coughs violently in response. I release the Cup's chain and charge in, swinging my right arm in a loop before I launch the Cup's front end for a killing strike.

She suddenly teleports right in front of me. My swing goes wide, and the chain wraps around us both. Her face is more terrifying up close, and her smell makes me gag. I try to pull away, but the chain locks us in place.

Something long, sharp, and cold punctures into my chest. I hack up some blood as I stare into the false Alice's black eyes. They seem less black than a few seconds ago. She looks as angry as the real Alice. Something seems off. Is she changing into another image, to confuse me more?

She teleports back, and the Cup's chain falls limp around me. I swing it up and start to spin it above my head as my chest throbs with pain. The incense from the Cup falls down over me, but it doesn't distract me from my goal. The false Alice's right arm sprouts several large pustules that glow a bright green. Her hand changes into a giant mouth that constantly drools saliva. She readies this mouth at me as the pustules begin to bubble and froth.

After a few seconds, the hand-mouth spits out a ball of green mucus at me. I dodge out of the way, and run towards her location while still spinning the Cup's chain around for another strike. I swing at her before she can fire again, and it locks her arms against her sides. I close the distance, and give her a solid punch in the face with my free fist. My impact ripples across her malformed image, and her eyes suddenly change.

For a brief moment, they appear green, like the regular Alice's eyes. But, that's probably just a trick this false Alice is using to confuse me. I draw back for another punch, but stop as two mouths on her face grin like the Cheshire Cat.

Something presses against my stab wound. I hear a loud _gurgle_ just before searing hot mucus covers our bodies. I scream as it gets into my nose and mouth—it tastes and smells just like tea. It's like the Eyepot's tea. To think that the false Alice would use something similar to them is unforgivable!

I tug on the Cup's chain to bring it back to me, but that also presses my foe right up to my face. My eyes lock with hers; she now looks more like the actual Alice than ever. I flinch as she raises the Vorpal Blade in a nearly-human hand, ready to teleport back the moment she brings it down on me.

Instead, she flips the blade around so that light bounces off the blade and into my eyes. I see the ornate carvings on the metal, and my own bloodied face. But, I don't instantly recognize it as _my face_. It's soaked in blood, the cheeks are longer, the jaw wider, the nose smaller. My eyes glow a dark red, very different than the bright-green I remember.

The blade is flipped back over as I blink. The false Alice then slices down my chest at an angle. I stumble back as my blood oozes out of my body. It comes to me that she could have killed me right now. But, she didn't. Why?

The Queen's fire repairs the wound. I look at the false Alice, try to see her actual expression beneath the malformed exterior. She looks angry, but also… concerned. Does she want me to see something? No, no, I can't get distracted by her; I have to win this fight!

I teleport back, switch over to the Automaton Hammer's 'Ranged Mode' and shout, "This ends now, false Alice!"

I raise the weapon up to my shoulder and aim it at my foe. I charge up a shot as best I can; the Queen's fire seems to give me extra power. The false Alice mutters something with two separate mouths, and braces herself for the shot.

I quickly fire a large ball of molten metal from the Hammer. It doesn't hit the false Alice directly, but the explosion covers that entire side of the rock we both stand on in liquid fire.

The Executioner lets out a booming laugh, and I crack a smile as I lower the Hammer from my shoulder. She's dead, she has to be. Nothing can survive that kind of attack. The real Alice can now be saved.

The molten metal flows off the stone to reveal… nothing. So, the false Alice melted away from the impact. All the better; now she won't be able to get revenge.

My vision warps. Something's wrong. Something isn't right. I feel like I just did something terrible. But, that can't be. I just won this fight!

Something _whooshes_ beside my left ear. I turn to look, and my right ear picks up a sharp, " _You can't see the truth._ "

I whirl back around just in time to see the real Alice dig the Vorpal Blade into my eyes. She then pulls the Blade across my face, and slices my eyes to pieces.

* * *

I howl as I cover my eye sockets with my hands. All outside senses fade as I fall to the stone, shaking and screaming as blood leaks from between my fingers. The Executioner's angry roar becomes clear, as well as a female scream that matches my own in anger.

" _Repulsive wretch,_ " the Red Queen screams from all around me. " _You had one job to do, and yet you still failed! Maybe Alice was right about your strength, after all._ "

"You're the one that's repulsive," I hear Alice - the _real_ Alice - shout back, "using my friends as your servants! Release him from your control!"

" _Your orders are worthless, girl! This 'warrior' came to me willingly, out of his desire to save you from yourself. I thought he had the strength needed to help you see the true picture. That no longer seems to be true._ "

I can't believe what I'm hearing. The Red Queen doesn't trust me, anymore? She used me as a pawn to kill the real Alice? But, what about those visions she showed me—were they a part of her plan to use me, or are they actually what's going to happen to Wonderland if we fail?

" _I won't stand for your defiance! Your suffering won't end here, Alice! This wretch will rot in my land, away from your corruption!_ "

I feel the stone beneath me shake from something huge impacting it. I then fall into a warm hole, probably another of the Queen's portals. The hole's warmth spreads over my body like water, leaks in between my hands and into my eye sockets. No sound reaches my ears, but I feel my body land in a larger pool just fine. This water tastes metallic to my tongue, almost like it isn't actually water.

I bump against some large, floating thing as I swim up to what I believe is the surface. I quickly break above the surface and instinctively gasp in air. I lower my hands from my eyes and kick my legs to tread liquid. I flick my head about to get rid of the leftover liquid in my ears. The smell is rotten, similar to the white pustules from before.

The images of those pustules, that _flesh_ , makes me shiver. I lash my hands around and quickly grab onto the floating thing from earlier. It feels like stone, with odds holes and bumps along the upper part. I grab onto one long, pointy bit on this object and hold onto it to heave myself onto the top. The object tilts over as I climb up, and I almost fall back into the pool. I splay my body out onto the object, and the point bit stabs into my stomach.

Oddly enough, the stab doesn't hurt that much. It does knock the air out of my lungs, though. I clutch whatever handhold I can to not fall back into the pool, and I manage to stay on the object. I take deep breaths of smelly air, a loud cough mixing in with every few exhales. Something sticks to my lungs like ice and refuses to let go.

Then, my eye sockets flicker. Dim light pierces through the darkness, and then shatters it apart. To my confused shock, my eyes actually open. All I see is a strange coating of red, veined flesh that blurs anything beyond it. I brush a hand along my eyes, and the coating falls away without much effort. Alice's attack must have sliced them open, and my real eyes are unharmed. I reflect over this and blink rapidly for a few moments, and then look down at the object I'm on.

It's a giant stone head, human-like, frozen in screaming agony. The pointy bit from earlier is its nose, the handholds its mouth and a hole in its cheek. I freeze up as I note how lifelike the face's expression is; could it have come from an actual face, or was it carved in its likeness? Either way, it freaks me out.

* * *

I move along the face and look beyond the pool of liquid—red liquid. _Blood_. Other stone faces, shaped in the likeness of the different chess pieces, bob and bump into each other in what I now see is a moat. A moat of blood, with stone faces of the Red Queen's foes.

I shiver again. The Red Queen is stronger than I ever thought. But, is she stronger than Alice? I don't know, and that upsets me. I've been alongside Alice for so long, so I should know something about her strength. Maybe I need to see her again to make sure?

Hold on. Why am I not so worried about the fact the Red Queen tried to control me in that fight? She used me like a puppet; kind of like what Hysteria told me back in the Radula Room. Her words came true; if I don't have the power, I am a puppet to someone else. Luckily, Alice had greater power than the Queen in that moment, and was able to free me. But, does that make a puppet to her, instead?

She did say that Wonderland is her creation, and I've seen evidence of that already. Does the Red Queen represent her darker side, her need to be in control? I can't answer that question, and that just adds to the disappointment.

I look to the curved edges of the moat that rise higher than I can reach. I try to judge whether I can jump up to the edge, and soon realize I don't have many other options. I don't think I can teleport up to the ledge mid-jump, which leaves me the chance to try a charged jump with my mists, or scrabble up the ledge like an animal.

I try to focus my mists, but they don't respond at all. I've got my hands, feet, and weapons left. None of my weapons will help me get off the ground, so I guess I've got to try climbing this moat. If I fail, I'll probably fall back into the blood. That isn't so bad; my clothes are already probably soaked through with the stuff, what's a little more going to do?

I take another breath, and leap at the curved wall. I stretch my hands out to try and grab at the rough edge. I snag a hold on something, but it _rips_ off the ground from my force. I fall into the blood, and quickly swim back onto the floating stone face. Some of the blood gets into my mouth, and it takes a moment to spit it out. I also wipe some of the blood from my eyes, and notice something I didn't before.

Across a couple of floating chess piece heads is a small brown vine that stretches to above the moat. The moat is arched too high for me to see any more than the same hazy sky I've always seen in Queensland. The vine seems solid enough to bare my weight—it's certainly better than these rough tufts of land that I can otherwise try to grab. Plus, I used vines to climb up that tunnel inside the tower from earlier. So far, vines have helped me out. Let's see if that continues.

I think I know why the Queen's manipulation doesn't affect me so much—I have something else to focus on now.

As long as I can keep my mind occupied, I can ignore the Queen's influence. I jump across the floating faces until I reach the vine. The faces bob and bounce beneath me, but they are large enough that I can avoid sinking into the blood.

I soon reach the vine, and grasp it in my hands. It is firm to the touch; a few tugs don't break it apart. I hoist myself up on it, and it holds my weight without snapping. I slowly climb up the vine, even as it sways back and forth like it's going to break at the worst possible moment. I feel much better when I get up and over the moat's edge.

Once I reach the rough surface, the vine spreads to a small cluster of vines that stretch up the side of some small gate. The heart-shaped doors are dark red with silver bolts along the edges. The doors are shut tight, even though the stone walls are covered with mold. I walk up the gate, and it only stands about four times my height.

Just when I reach out to touch the gate, it opens up with an ominous _rumble_. Is this the Cheshire Cat's doing, or the Red Queen trying to bring my back into her fold? Should I step through, or try to find another way inside? For that matter, do I even deserve to be alongside Alice again? No, no, I can't focus on that now.

The gate slowly opens up as I think these questions through. I step inside to see another small courtyard, but the stone walls here have large spikes on the top. There's no obvious way out except for the broken door of a large spiraling tower with a few broken windows, and a red pointed roof. A large stone bridge hangs between that tower and another tower just like it far above the ground.

I'm sure Alice is somewhere deep inside Queensland. I need to find her, again. But, this time, I need her help just as much as she needs mine. I walk over to the door, pull out the broken wood bits that hang inside the frame, and start to climb the spiral stairs.

' _Wait for me, Alice. I'll find you again._ '

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! What else will Kyle deal with in Queensland? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are appreciated. Let me know if these images are going too far or not; these took a while to construct, and I had to look up quite a few things in the beta content of this game to get good ideas for these scenes. There was also some artwork I found in the official artbook for the game that I felt could work in these scenarios.**

 **I also hope that the battle between the corrupted Kyle and Alice was an engaging read. Again, this took a long while to make up, and I tried to show how the Queen's influence can warp the mind and body. Let me know what you thought of it!**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	32. A Burning Wound

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter of the story. How will/can Kyle recover from Queensland's influence? Read on to find out.**

 **Just so you know, there is a beta-content item, and a few beta-content enemies, in this chapter. Queensland's got a lot of extra elements from the game's beta version that I want to use, so I'm going to use them.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series, are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any other custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The tower's stairs are stable enough to walk on, but the stairway is quite narrow. Framed pictures of eyes, limbs, pus, and blood hang on the walls. The eyes follow me, the limbs writhe, and the two different liquids bubble and froth as I pass them by. These reactions wrack my nerves, and remind me the Queen is watching from all sides. Her domain looks decayed, but she's still a threat.

I reflect over what the Queen said when Alice freed me from the Queen's grasp. The monarch 'thought' I could fight Alice, and defeat her. Since that plan failed, I've fallen below her expectations. She's thrown me away, discarded me. So, why would she open the gates for me again?

I don't know the Queen's goals, and I'm not sure I _want_ to know them. I've hated her from the first moment I heard of her, which was while she ruled Wonderland. I never saw her palace until now, though. I haven't even seen the Queen herself. Maybe she looks like that picture I saw, of that tentacled woman. I could be wrong, of course.

If she has changed, I don't know how. Like the Cheshire Cat said, Alice had picked up her crown, and we have to speak to what's left.

These thoughts help block my despair and hopelessness. It puts a constant pressure on each step I take. The broken window frames I walk by show more of Queenland's haze. I just keep walking until something better comes around.

At some point, I reach the top of the tower. There's a wooden door with a few cracks, and a rusted metal handle, in front of me. I grab the handle and push the door open to the outside air. The stone bridge I saw from the courtyard connects this tower to another tower in a straight line. The same kind of door I just opened is on the other side. That door is closed, of course.

The bridge itself is a mix of grey-brown stone squares, and red fleshy vines. Battlements jut up from the sides, some of them chipped or broken apart. The vines wrap around the bridge to hold the stone in place. They are the only thing that keeps me from falling to my very probable death.

I step out onto the bridge, and wind instantly whistles in my ears. It's stronger, and colder, than at ground level. I take slow steps; stopping would just be worse.

A loud screech directs my eyes skyward. Another winged heart close to my size flies at my face with a large, fanged mouth. I fall to all fours, and the heart goes over me. There's not much space for me to dodge. I get back to my feet as the heart loops around in the air, and then dives at me. I drop back to my knees, and the heart slams against the battlements.

As I get up again, I summon a weapon to aid me; I don't choose any specific one. The Incense Cup appears in my hands, and I use its ranged mode to fire back at the heart. The heart flaps back while dodging and weaving in the air, not getting hit once. I stop my fire as a thin cloud of incense is blown away.

I fire again, but the wind also diverts the Cup's bullets a bit from my target. The winged organ struggles to move against the howling air; it's almost frozen in place. I switch to the Ice Wand, and fire a few bolts of cold. Two of them hit its body.

The creature shivers violently and plummets several feet down before it manages to flap its wings and rise back up. I channel the Wand's magic into a sphere, and fire it when the wind stops. The sphere hits the creature, and its body falls down towards me. I duck down yet again, and the heart crashes into the battlements around me. I shut my eyes as I feel the entire bridge shake from the impact. Several seconds later, I barely hear a _splat_ from far below.

* * *

I slowly stand back up. The battlements on either side of me are broken. I step over to the far side as best I can, very glad the bridge hasn't collapsed. Once I'm far away enough to feel safe, I rest my hand against a stable battlement. I take a few deep breaths as another gust of wind tries to ruin my accomplishments.

I accidentally gaze at the ground far below. The drop makes me feel sick. Queensland's haze shrouds some details, but I can make out the walls and giant, rotten vines of the courtyard. If I fall down there, I won't survive the impact. I broke my arm when I fell through that flesh-tunnel; this bridge seems even higher than that.

" _You don't know that for sure,_ " a voice I can't recognize whispers in my ears. " _You should jump down to test it. What if the distance is an illusion?_ "

I shake my head at the thought of jumping down there. Illusion or not, I won't risk my life over it. My hands shake beyond my control as the despair from the Vale of Doom comes back with chilling force. This all seems so hopeless. The Red Queen used me in her own ways, my trusted friend in the Grove died because I was stupid, and Alice thinks I'm at least part 'barbarian'. I haven't done very well for myself. What can I do change that?

The Elder Ant's words come back to me; "A warrior's honor is worth their life." If I've lost my honor, what point is there in living?

" _Go on,_ " the same voice says to me, " _jump. You'll be free of your suffering, and you won't be causing any more trouble to anyone else._ "

I clench a fist as I picture my body falling through the air, and then splattering to a bloody mess on the ground. I'd be free, yes, but at what cost?

* * *

Something appears to my left. It's the Cheshire Cat, standing against the closed door I need to open. His grin is the same, but he looks angry. His ears are flat against his head, his tail whisks along the stone, and his claws are bared. I keep silent, since he's probably about to speak up.

"I know what you're thinking," he says after a moment. "Why continue on this path, if it won't bring anything good? Have you considered there might be another way out beyond killing yourself for the greater good?"

"Did you even see the battle between me and Alice?" I ask the Cat, my tongue heavy in my mouth. He probably didn't, but I don't give him a chance to comment before I continue.

"The Red Queen made me her slave. She turned my desire to help Alice against me. She created a false Alice, like Caterpillar's simulacrum, that I was told to kill. I didn't question it. Alice had to show me the truth herself."

"Truth is stranger than fiction," the Cat states, "and knowing what's true is essential to your growth. You've been fooled once; are you any better for it? Have you improved in your discipline?"

"The Queen said discipline has no power here, Cat. Fear, and command, reign supreme. So, she holds all the cards." I blink at my word choice, and quickly add in, "No pun intended."

"None taken," the Cat says with a twitch of one of his ears that tells me some part of it actually irked him. "But, you shouldn't be ready to fold so quickly. To the Queen's Guards, we are all subjects in waiting. Judge the field, understand your opponent's tricks. Then, when that perfect hand comes along, you bet big, and take the house for yourself."

"Are you saying Alice and I have to overthrow the Queen?" I stare at the Cat's eternal grin with wide eyes as I try to understand his metaphors. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to topple a monarch from their throne?"

The Cat scrapes a claw against the stone as he snidely comments, "You seem to have forgotten who brought the bloody big-head down _the_ _first time_."

I bite back a curse. I've forgotten Alice's prior achievements. Has Queensland affected my mental state that much, or are my past memories really that scattered? I turn away from the Cat as I rack my brain for answers, and come up empty-handed.

When I glance over to the Cat again, he's already gone. He probably has more pressing matters to attend to, like helping Alice along her path.

I take one last look at the distant ground, and then walk over to the closed door on the far side of the bridge. I push against its wooden frame, and it refuses to budge. It yields to the Automaton Hammer's bash, and reveals another dark stairway that winds down to what I assume is ground level. I dismiss the weapon and prepare to walk down.

" _If you forgo this chance now,_ " the same voice warns me before I reach the first step, "y _ou won't get another. You'll be in this ride until the very end. Are you sure you want that?_ "

I answer the voice by walking down the steps without looking back.

* * *

The whispers continue their strange mutterings as I walk down the stairs. The walls don't have the same disturbing paintings, but the feeling of dread remains. I don't focus on an individual thought for long, save for keeping the rhythm of my walk. The steps are stable enough to hold my weight without crumbling.

I feel a bit better when I see the door at the bottom of the stairs. It opens easily for me, and I shield my eyes from the bright light outside. Another decayed, broken courtyard made up of stone, decayed vines, and tufts of brown grass reveals itself to me. This one is much smaller, but that doesn't mean it's any less dangerous.

I quickly notice movement at one corner; it's a large pink tongue. It writhes near a pair of wilted bushes that stretch over a small keyhole-shaped tunnel. The tongue doesn't try to attack me. I summon the Automaton Hammer and take careful steps toward it. This tongue could be related to that flying heart from earlier; another servant of the Red Queen.

I stop a few feet away from the tongue, and watch it for any sudden moves. It just continues to wriggle in place. There's a large gash along one side of its body that spurts out a few drops of blood with every wriggle. It takes another second for me to realize the tongue is actually on its side. In that case, it probably wants to be fully back on the ground.

Should I help it? It isn't doing me any harm by being here. I look around the small space for anything else that's special, but there's nothing else here. No doors, no holes in the walls, nothing other than the crawlspace beside the tongue. I'd have to shrink down to get through, but I have no idea what's beyond it. Maybe I could use the tongue as some kind of bait?

I make my decision, and give the tongue a light push with the Hammer's front. It tips to the ground, and quickly moves over to the small hole. It slips inside, and I shrink down to follow it through. I stay a few paces behind it until we reach an enclosed space of flesh and bone.

This space has another humanoid heart with arms and legs, but this one has a giant eye instead of a mouth. The heart leaps to the tongue and rakes its claws along the tongue's body. The tongue writhes in pain as its blood spills out.

I feel angry at this sight, but a part of me doesn't want to interfere. I don't want to deal with another heart that could claw me to ribbons. So, I stay shrunken and skirt around the edge of the space in order to find some kind of exit.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way out. The tongue's torture isn't helping my search, either. I suppose I'll have to deal with the heart before I can focus on an exit; I can't just stand by this suffering for any longer. Caterpillar wouldn't have wanted that, since I couldn't protect the Origami Ants from the Samurai Wasps. They were tortured, too, just like this creature.

This time, I can make a difference.

I will myself to normal size and summon the Ice Wand. I point its orb at the heart as the creature deals a brutal slash to the tongue. The air grows cold as a single, jagged spike of green ice forms in front of the orb. The heart stops its assault on the tongue, and looks up at me. I mentally command the ice-spike to fly out at that exact moment.

The spike shatters when it hits the heart, and the creature freezes in place with its arms raised. I feel a grim sense of satisfaction as I switch to the Hammer and walk over to the creature. Its eye doesn't move, but I'm sure it can still feel what's going on. That makes it all the better when I shatter its body into chunks of frozen flesh.

* * *

The air inside the space starts to warm up again as the tongue slithers over to me. I raise the Hammer in defense, but the tongue just rubs itself around my legs. Its touch actually feels soothing, so I let it continue. Then, the tongue slides up my leg and onto my back. I reach back to pull it off me, but it wraps around my chest before I can grab onto its form.

I can only think, ' _This is too weird…_ ' as the tongue forces my arms against my side with a strong grip. It doesn't squeeze me so much as hug me, and its saliva feels tingly. The saliva also bleeds through my clothes, but that's not a problem right now. The tongue continues to rub and slither across my body, but it never goes for my head, or face.

Eventually, the tongue slithers down my legs and back onto the ground. It then moves over to some kind of long rope against the wall. One end of the rope has a fleshy handle, and the entire rope is a dark black with a glowing red aura. The tongue rests across the rope and basks in this aura, which makes me wonder what this rope can do. Could the aura be giving off some kind of heat? What does the fleshy handle mean?

I grow more curious to pick the rope up, to see just what it can do in my hands. However, the tongue is on a good chunk of the rope, and I doubt I can pull it out from underneath. I look to see if I can touch one bit of it, but there's no good spot that the tongue isn't covering.

I shake my head at what I have to do to get the rope. I can't believe I'm doing this, but the rope could be useful. It isn't attracting me to it like the Hammer, it wasn't used against me like the Wand, and it doesn't seem to be an artifact like the Cup. Nevertheless, it seems to call to me.

It takes me a few tries to say, "Excuse me," because my throat is still sore. Once I do, I follow it up with, "Could you please move off this rope? I'd like to see it for myself."

The tongue's upper end rises to me. I get the sense that it's looking at me. After a moment, it slithers off the rope without protest.

I give a quick, "Thank you," and then grab the fleshy handle for myself. The handle is dry, despite the tongue having been on there a second ago.

The moment I hold the handle with both hands, the black rope glows orange, and then bursts into flames! I jump back with my hands still grasping the handle. The rope's fire gives off tremendous heat that fills the small space in a few seconds. It also fills my head as I see another memory…

* * *

 _A solitary stone tower stands in the distance; a single red-and-black on the roof flaps in the breeze. I sit on the edge of a slab of rock that juts at an angle through the forest's canopy, like a sword stabbing through a body. A full moon's light shines down on the tower, the forest, the rock, my body… and the Cheshire Cat as he appears beside me in his usual method._

"Come here to ponder? _" He asks this with a wave of his paw to the area in general, since he probably doesn't care about any of it._

"Found this place a few days ago, _" I reply without looking at the Cat. "_ The tower may be the Queen's, but it's empty now. I made sure of that. Also, the forest shields me from anything below the trees. It's got an odd sense of order to it. _"_

"Ah, order, _" the Cat says with what sounds like whimsy. "_ So hard to achieve, and so easy to lose. Of course, if order didn't exist, there'd just be chaos. Without order, Wonderland wouldn't be the way it is now. _"_

"That probably wouldn't be completely bad, right? _" I regret asking that question the moment it leaves my mouth. The Cat grins at me from the corner of my eye, like I just made a bad joke._

"I mean, _" I force myself to add as I turn to face the Cat, "_ If Wonderland is supposed to be a place where everyone is mad in some way, what power does 'order' really hold? How would societies form, if there was no combined interest in forming what we know as 'order'? _"_

"There's a simple answer to that question, _" the Cat replies. "_ It's called competition. Might makes right, winners write the history books. If order didn't exist, then every living thing would be looking out for itself, and only itself. There would still be societies, but they'd be more like packs of feral dogs than the villages, schools, and communities we have here. _"_

"Would that pack mentality be better than the Red Queen's tyranny? She forced the rest of Wonderland into submission before Alice defeated her. Her form of 'order' was to control every little thing she could. That's not always the best way to go about doing things. _"_

"I see Caterpillar's training has stuck in your noggin, _" the Cat says with a pleased wink. "_ As in military drills, and the alphabet, proper _order_ is everything. _"_

"I concur, _" I state with a nod. "_ But, what sort of order is there if I am being trained to act as a guardian of Wonderland? How can I guard a place that thrives on madness? _"_

"I can't tell you everything, _" the Cat suddenly chides at me. "_ Just act like you know how this world works. Oh, wait, that was rude; you already do! _"_

 _I frown at the tongue-and-cheek comment, and the Cat playfully flicks his ears back. This just increases my anger. I don't give him the opportunity to see my anger, and instead turn around to climb down the rock._

"Leaving so soon? _" The Cat's query gets no answer from me. "_ Surely you want to know why I came here, at all? _"_

"I don't want to hear it, Cat, _" I reply as I continue to climb down. "_ You've worn my wits dry; I'm not in the mood for jokes. _"_

"If you've only your wits, you have nothing, _" the Cat reminds me in a louder voice. "_ Wits are useless here, everything is downside-up. _"_

"I get it, Chess! _" I shout back, using a nickname to add insult to injury. He deserves it, insulting my thoughts like that. He's probably had a bad day, which may be why his anger is contagious. I don't feel any happier when I climb down into the forest's canopy._

 _Just when I step onto the soil at ground level, the Cat materializes on a group of low-hanging vines that hang between two different trees. His eyes glow in the forest's darkness, like beacons on a path. I know my eyes can glow back, but with less intensity._

"You may not find this important, _" he informs me, "_ but you aren't the only person of some importance in Wonderland. Perhaps your solidarity in Caterpillar's temple has rotted away your social skills. _"_

"What threat would require my social skills to be at their best? _" I place my hands on my hips as I ask this, and the Cat's eyes narrow at my attitude._

"A new danger has risen, _" he states without immediately answering my question. "_ Wonderland is under attack by an entity unlike any we have faced before. The Queen sought to control Wonderland, but this entity wants to _change_ it. If it isn't stopped, all we know will be lost. We have no choice but to fight it. _"_

"It sounds like this threat has had time to prepare itself, _" I comment. "_ Was that where you were today? _"_

"I don't need to tell you where I've been, Kyle. All you need to know is that I require your services, as a warrior of our Wonderland. I do hope you'll be cooperative, because you don't have a choice in the matter. _"_

 _I clench my fists at the Cat's words, but they are true. I've been training to battle some great evil; this threat might be it. To not confront it would be to dismiss all that I've learned, and it would destroy any honor I had as a warrior._

"The ritual will soon begin, _" the Cat states as I pass beneath his position. "_ Get to Fort Resistance. Punctuality is not only a virtue, it's often a necessity. Like here! _"_

 _I break off into a run through the trees, the Cat's warning bouncing around in my head…_

* * *

I come back to reality—or the closest thing to it—with a sharp breath. This new memory was more vivid than others. Does this mean my mind is mostly back together, or something else? What was the 'ritual' the Cat spoke of? Where is 'Fort Resistance', and why is it important? Was the 'threat' the Cat referred to the Ruin that Alice and I am fighting?

I shake my head to dispel these questions, and then remember there's a burning rope in my hands.

My hands aren't burnt at all when I look at them. Rather, the fleshy handle seems to shield my hands from the rope's fire. The length extends a few feet forward, but a good bit of that length rests in a clump on the ground. I'm surprised the fire hasn't spread to the rest of this small space already.

I take one hand off the handle, so that my right hand holds it. I raise that arm up a bit, and I pull a bit of the rope up with me. I twirl that hand around, and the rope twirls in tandem with my movements. It seems like this is more of a _whip_ than a _rope_.

In that case, this could be another weapon I could use in combat. It may take some time for me to use it properly, but I'm curious enough to try it. This 'Fire Whip', as I quickly decide to call it, is too interesting to pass up.

I then remember the tongue from earlier. It's not where it was before. It probably left when the Whip first burst into flames. I don't blame it for leaving, since we both helped each other out already. I focus on the Whip and mentally command it be dismissed, like my other weapons. I jump as it completely vanishes, fire and all. It's a little unexpected.

With the Whip dismissed, I now look around the space for some other exit. The best one I can find is another crawlspace that is between two angled bones. I walk over to it and shrink down, since there's the chance I could slip between the bones. That chance pays off as I find a gap that I can walk through, and into a small tunnel beneath the ground.

I walk along this tunnel for several minutes, just putting one foot in front of another. My hiccups don't distract me too much, since they come up every few seconds in their own rhythm. The tunnel curves at a few spots, and even slopes down for a few paces. There aren't any odd sounds or smells here, which helps me concentrate on keeping my pace.

The tunnel, and the solitude it brings, eventually ends as I emerge in a gap between a stone wall and the base of a broken statue. A small patch of brown grass grows in the gap, and I step out from behind the statue. The sunlight is dimmed by Queensland's haze, and I blink for a moment before I grow back to normal size. I look at the statue, and feel some bile rise in my throat. The statue shows a woman's face in the middle of melting away.

I look around to see I'm in yet another courtyard. This one has many more statues like the one I just saw. All of them have the same woman, with her face in varying states of decay. The woman wears a crown, which makes me automatically think of the Queen. I don't know if that's intended, but she's the only person I've seen who wears a crown. Maybe there was another Queen before the Red Queen took over?

No, no, I know the answer. There used to be another queen, a White Queen, that was killed when the Red Queen took over. I had heard about this from the Cheshire Cat, several years ago, but I didn't recall it until now because of my lost memories. So, these statues might be mocking the White Queen's beauty after her death.

* * *

The thought of death becomes a bit more real as four Card Guards shamble out from behind a few of the statues. They look just as undead as when I last fought them, regardless of their suit or color. I think the Fire Whip can deal with them, but something stops me from summoning it. Since I've fought these foes before, I can probably use the same weapons as before, right?

The Guards charge at me, their mouths open and claws bared. I summon the Hammer in response, and use its melee mode to knock two Guards back. I then run to one side to avoid the rest, and switch to the Cup's ranged fire. The sweet scent of incense fills my nose as the Cup's bullets break one Guard's body to bits.

Unfortunately, the Guards that are still up and about keep me from wiping out the ones I knocked down. I have to run and gun to keep away from their claws, which gives the other Guards the chance to rise back up.

As I run past another swiping guard, I think, ' _Fuck it,_ ' and change to the Hammer. I then charge the nearest Guard and knock its head clean off. I let the momentum of my swing spin me around, and I slam the Hammer into the decapitated body before it can regenerate. The Guard's body breaks into pieces of flesh and decayed bone, some of which splatter across my face.

"Alright, you undead fuckers," I shout as I let my battle-fury give me extra strength, "let's dance!"

One red-colored Guard charges me, and actually dodges my swing. It slashes at my arm, but I jerk my shoulder up so that the horse-headed plate takes the brunt of the attack. I dig my boots into the ground as I heave the Hammer up and around at the same guard. It isn't able to dodge this time, and the impact breaks through its card-shaped body.

The Guard's form falls in front of me, and I dig my boot into its head. Blood and flesh sprays out as the skull breaks open under my force, and the Queen's essence doesn't appear. I turn to face a new foe just as claws graze my nose. I thrust my body forward, and slam into the Guard that tried to rake my face off. The undead servant gurgles out something as it stumbles back. I quickly swap to the Wand and stab the orb into the Guard's chest.

A burst of Tundraful's cold turns the Guard into an ice block. I pull the Wand out with a grunt, and spin around to face someone else. Two Guards come at me, working together to slash my arms. I drop the Wand and gasp as fresh blood seeps from my wounds. The pain is too strong for me to focus on summoning another weapon.

I spin to my left in rage and slam my right fist into the skeletal face of the frontmost Guard. It doesn't do much damage, but it feels really good to do. I shrink down to get free from the other Guard's grip, and then grow back up to deal a kick against that Guard's chest. Again, it doesn't do much damage, but it sure feels good to me.

I then break into a sprint across the courtyard to get some space against the Guards. I stop beside one of the many statues in order to summon the Cup, and release its chain. I spin the chain beside me as the two Guards stay near each other. They start to split up when they get close to me, and that's when I launch the chain forward. It wraps around one, and cuts through the other's side. I jerk the chain towards me, which pulls the bound Guard to my feet.

I feel a thrill as I stomp the Guard's face in, grinding its bones beneath my heel. The other Guard slams its body into me, and we fall to the ground with him on top. I get a whiff of his breath, and I instantly want to vomit. Rather than puking my guts out, I thrust my body to the side. This rolls us both over, and I'm on top.

I roar as I slam my right fist into the Guard's face, and follow through with the other fist. The Guard's head bounces against the ground with each punch, and I just hit it over and over. Blood soon coats my fists, and small shards of bone dig into my fingers as I punch, and punch, and punch, until I punch solid rock. The Guard's body lies beneath me, the head now a broken mess.

* * *

At that moment, the ground shakes. The statues wiggle, and then burst apart in the way of giant red tentacles. I growl as my battle-fury fades, and I raise my hand towards where the Ice Wand was. The weapon comes to my hand after some intense concentration, and I grip it with both hands to stand up.

" _You still have your spirit?_ " The Queen's voice rings out from all around me as the tentacles writhe and dance to their creator's beat. " _What good is that against me?_ "

"It'll be enough against you," I shout back. "You rely more on your servants than your own strength."

" _Don't bite at the hand that feeds you! I gave you a chance to complete your goal, to save Alice, and you threw it away!_ "

"You made me fight my friend! How is that a good thing?"

The Queen chuckles at my question before she answers: " _You call her a friend, when you are actually her enemy._ "

"Liar! I've fought by Alice since the beginning of this journey. She's strong enough to understand what really happened back when you brainwashed me!"

" _She may understand that, but you are what's blocking her from what she needs to know; self-reliance. You are making this journey too easy for her, which has her think she doesn't need her full strength. If I hadn't intervened, she would have been unprepared for the true danger._ "

"You intervened to _help_ Alice? Then, why use me to fight her?"

" _I had to show her, one way or another, of what she was missing. That girl and I go a long way back, far longer than your little friendship with her. I've always known her as independent, relying on her own strength and smarts to solve problems. She may have had allies, but none of them were as close to her as you've become._ "

"I refuse to believe our friendship is a bad thing. Alice and I have helped each other along the way, and we've both become stronger for it."

" _Really?_ " The tentacles all point down at me as the Queen asks this. " _Isn't a warrior supposed to be independent of everyone else they face? You never know when they may have to draw their weapon and fight. Attachments will only destroy you, in the end._ "

"No, they won't. Attachments help make you stronger, especially people who can stand alongside you in battle. You know they won't stab you in the back."

" _Peasant!_ " The tentacles writhe at the Queen's anger. " _You favor your own success over the larger picture. If you won't listen to reason, then perhaps Alice will listen to me, when she realizes you are nothing more than a monster!_ " The tentacles then lash down at me, and try to hold me tight.

I cry out, "I will not bow!" as I summon the Fire Whip. The flames burn bright as I twirl the rope as best I can with one hand. The tentacles that get struck by it shrink back with black marks on their bodies. The Queen cries out as I swing the Whip around me, and the tentacles that hold me in place let me go.

"I want Wonderland to be saved," I shout as I swing the Whip round and round me, a barrier of fire against the tentacles. "I know Alice has to save it, and I want to help her achieve that. I trust her to end this madness, and end you!"

I now lash the Whip around one of the tentacles, and the entire limb bursts into flames. The tentacle falls back onto the courtyard wall, and I pull the Whip back to me as I run toward the impacted area. The old stone has broken through the wall, and part of a smaller ring covered with wilted leaves. This looks like the best path for me to take, so I run over there.

" _I… still… REIGN!_ " At the final word from the Queen, I see the Executioner burst through a nearby piece of wall. He roars at me, and charges. I pump my legs to go faster, and climb my way through the hole in the wall. The Executioner is very close behind me, but I don't want to check exactly _how_ close. The fact he's chasing me it all is enough to make me run as fast as I can.

* * *

I turn a corner at the end of my current path to find I've reached the center space within this ring of walls. An ornate table rests at the back end of the space, and someone stands by the table. A closer look shows that it's Alice as she eats a mouthful of a large slice of cake.

I call out Alice's name as I run toward her. She looks up with wide eyes, and then starts to cough. A loud footstep rings in my ears with the Executioner's roar. Before I can move, something sharp slices through my back and comes out of my chest.

My body refuses to breathe as I feel cold metal lodged where my stomach and gut should be. I force myself to look down, and stare in mute horror as I see a sizeable part of the Executioner's scythe has gone through my body. I open my mouth, and all that comes out is a gurgling choke. My eyes tear up, and those tears join the blood that flows out of my mouth, nostrils, and gaping hole in my chest.

Something large presses into my back, and the scythe comes out of my body. That just releases more blood as my body lands on its side. I rest there for a second before I tip onto my back. I force my eyes up as the Executioner moves past me. He's going after Alice, and I can't will myself to get up and stop him.

I feel my mists try to heal the damage, but there's just too much. My vision is already white at the edges. I keep my eyes on the Executioner as he stops and looks up at a giant that wasn't there before. Hope races through me as I recognize Alice's clothing, now giant-sized. Somehow, she's grown far taller than the monster that nearly sliced me in half.

I can't see the face of the Queen's most dangerous servant, but he drops his scythe in what I assume is horrified surprise. Alice gives him a dark glare, and then a grin rivaling the Cheshire Cat as she raises one of her feet into the air. The Executioner tries to jump away, but it can't escape from Alice as she brings her foot down.

The _thoom_ that Alice's stomp makes shakes the ground. My stomach heaves as I see the Executioner's body break into countless bits of tattered skin, Card Guard bodies, and tentacles. Alice reaches down to get something out of my sight, and then moves to me.

"Eat," she says as she kneels down, her voice loud enough to break through the blood in my ears. "This cake makes you taller and stronger. It can fix you."

I try to speak back, but I just hack up blood. Alice quickly props me up against a hand, and the blood I throw up dribbles down my chin. Her other hand holds the same cake she had eaten just before. I can barely see it, but I can easily see Alice's giant hand as it comes up to my face.

Something sweet is pushed into my open mouth. My jaws ache as I force them to close and chew. The sweetness doubles with each bite, and I taste several flavors alongside my vomit and blood. My senses go beserk as my limbs twitch on their own. The cake's taste is overwhelming, as is the pain from my wounds. These two sensations clash against each other, neither side backing down from the fight.

I swallow, and instantly feel as cold as if I jumped into Tundraful's frigid waters. My lips wiggle, and then move into a smile as I slump against Alice's hand. I wonder how tall this cake will make me; maybe taller than Alice?

I don't know, and I don't really care. I feel so tired, like I could sleep for ages.

My eyes close as I hear the giant Alice shout my name…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! The Executioner has fallen, but the cake Alice ate to become a giant seems to have affected Kyle in a bad way. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	33. A Colossal Heartbreaker

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **Just to warn you, this chapter may get... weird. I mean, a giant-sized Alice is weird enough, but what you see here may seem odd. Even for Wonderland. Those of you who have played 'Madness Returns' may know what I'm talking about.**

 **Hopefully, you will remain interested in this story, regardless.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not included in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any other custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

My body rises and falls at a steady pace. I don't know if I'm still asleep, or awake. Darkness envelops me, but it's warm. Comforting. I don't want to leave, but I also don't know how I got here. Should I care about that?

I suddenly fall sideways, and then rise back up. The warmth around me shifts and cradles me from harm. Nevertheless, this change feels wrong.

Fragments of people and places float within my reach, but they scatter when I try to grab them. Are these things important? Should I know them?

The warmth continues to shift around every few seconds, some shifts greater than others. I'm being tossed around without my consent. The sense of comfort from the warmth now feels oppressive. I want to see what's outside the warmth.

Suddenly, the warmth sharply twists to one side. My ears ring with the sound of an explosion. My body flies up, and out, of the warmth. My eyes spring open.

Everything comes back to me in an instant, along with a tremendous amount of noise. A giant-sized Alice stands beside me, Queensland's hazy air shrouding the horizon.

I've just been knocked into the sky from inside Alice's dress by some explosive object. The fragments I tried to grab now flow around me as trails of white mist, the same mist I have used in combat.

My muscles tense up as I see Alice clutch her chest with a pained expression, her eyes searching for something. I then focus on the mists around me, and they quickly answer back. I bend the mists around me in a tight circle as I fall to the ground. I have a few seconds before I make an impact among hundreds of Card Guards. They all stab, and slash, into Alice's giant boots.

A surge of energy, strength, or some other sensation pumps through me. My sense of time slows down as I channel my mists around my hands. Once my hands are surrounded by mist, I point them down at the Guards below me and _push_ out with my power.

My mists flow out through my hands, and slam into the ground as two vortexes of white air. The Guards right beneath me are thrown into the sky by these spinning columns of air, and other nearby Guards fly back. They crash into other Guards, and fall down like dominoes. The vortexes slow my fall down to a crawl; I land delicately on solid ground.

I now stand in the midst of countless Card Guards. A group of them get knocked away as the giant-sized Alice turns around to face me. Each of her steps shakes the ground; the Guards that don't run out of the way get crushed to bloody pulps.

I jump into the air and _push_ with my mists once again. This time, my mists flow from my arms at a constant pace to keep me off the ground. I _push_ harder, and rise further into the air. I quickly reach the level of Alice's shoulder, and take a brief look around from my new height. The big problem I see is a stone tower several feet behind Alice; more specifically, the large cannon it points at Alice's back.

I act instantly, darting past Alice's giant face as I fly between her and the cannon. She takes a breath just as the cannon fires. I raise my hands up, and my mists flow around my hands and fingers. They change into larger versions of my own hands. These mist-hands wrap around the cannonball and, amazingly, stop it in its tracks.

I instantly feel pain in my real hands, like if I was actually gripping this fast-moving object. My body flies back until I slam into Alice's giant chest, but she doesn't stumble back from the impact. I grit my teeth as I look around for a place to send this projectile that is _not_ one of us.

A good spot comes in the form of a large, circular space of red flesh. This space brings out more Card Guards from beneath the ground with every moment, more than I ever imagined the Queen had. It's a perfect target to fire this cannonball at, so I angle my hands toward it. The mist-hands follow my movements, and then fire the projectile where I want to go with another _push_.

The flesh-circle explodes into burning pieces of flesh when hit. A large collection of teeth appears amidst the pieces of reanimated Card Guards. I'm sure Alice will like that.

I suddenly fall without any control of my body, the pain now stronger than my newfound energy. I land on something soft and slightly warm. Alice's giant eyes look down at me, and she brings me up closer to her face. I must be in her hand, if she can move me around like this. I'm glad she acted quickly enough to save me from a hard landing.

Then, I quickly sit up as I remember that cannon; it must still be active, since all I did was redirect its shot. My energy comes back as I look back to where the cannon was. It starts to spark and glow, like it's about to fire. I race along Alice's hand, and leap off with a charged jump. My mists move around me like an extra layer of clothing.

Once I'm in the air, I feel my feet touch the ground while I'm still in the air. I take a brief glance down, and see my mist has shaped itself into what look like giant boots. They move when my feet move, and can bear my weight so far in the air. I hear Alice shout something, but I ignore it as I look to the cannon. If that's the main problem, then I need to try and get rid of it.

The cannon fires at me like before, and my mist-hands reach out to grab it. This time, I cushion my hands around the projectile, instead of pressing against it. I still feel pain, but not as much as before. I then spin around as best I can on mist-made feet, and, with a loud cry, fling the cannonball back in the general direction of the tower.

My throw goes wide. The cannonball hits part of a large stone wall that blocks our path. I stumble for a second as Alice stomps over to my left. She kicks through a barrier of rotten tentacles, and then approaches a living tentacle that blocks her way to the cannon-tower. The limb thrashes at her, but she gets her hands around it and rips it straight out of the ground.

" _Guhhah,_ " the Red Queen cries out as nearby tentacles retreat back into the ground, " _Your journey must be aborted. You're stuck! There's nothing else you can do!_ "

" _I beg to differ_ ," I shout back. I then stop short as I realize my voice sounds similar to the Queen. It's _my_ voice, but amplified by several similar voices like the Queen's words. Is this because of the Queen's tricks?

No. My powers are my own. I'm nothing like her, not at all!

* * *

The cannon aims at Alice as she strides up a short hill to the tower. My mist-feet fade into a large stream that trails behind me as I fly towards Alice, but she gets to the tower before I can reach her. She deals the tower two punches, and one kick. That's enough for the entire thing, cannon and all, to crumble apart. All that's left is a large white heart, which Alice shatters with one good stomp.

" _Arrrghhh!_ " The Queen's cry echoes in my ears as blood spurts up from the broken heart. " _It's only a flesh wound!_ "

" _Don't hide your pain from us,_ " I shout back with my new voice. " _We know how you really feel!_ "

"Don't encourage her, Kyle," Alice says, her voice louder from her giant-sized state as she walks over to me. She then points to the other end of the path we were just on with the words, "We've got other threats to deal with."

What Alice points at is another army of Card Guards that block our way forward. They look so tiny from where I stand, several feet in the air on feet made of mist. I could scatter them like ants before me, as Alice did a short while ago. It'd be so easy…

"More Guards," Alice states for us both, apparently unconcerned by what we face. "The Queen's pulled out all the stops." She then looks at me with a focused glint in her eyes.

"That cake seems to have augmented your mist-controlling abilities," she states. "Care to test them out with this fodder?"

I grin as I respond, " _Gladly._ "

I push my hands back, and mentally command my mists to propel me forward. The mists below my feet turn into a cloud that flows from my legs like a long tail against the ground. The Guards slow down as I tower over them, and I take pride in the fact they think they can bring me down. They have no chance against me, or Alice.

I cry out, " _Take this!_ " as I create my mist-hands and clap them down at the closest row of Guards. They all get picked by the mist-hands and fly into each other as I press them together. Their bones shatter beneath my force as I bring my mist-hands up to my face. The other Guards raise their weapons as I toss the crushed Guard's bits down on them like rain. I laugh at how they jump back in surprise, just before I charge into their ranks.

I alternate swipes at the Guards, and send them flying to either side of me. My mist-hands move just as fast as my real hands, but their size and air-like properties give them extra force. Each Guard I 'hit' gets thrown off its feet, and scooped into my grasp. Once inside, it can't break free. I'm able to do whatever I want to its body. I mostly toss them against the walls, or smash them on the ground, with enough force to break their bones. Simple, yet effective.

Once all the Guards are gone, Alice stomps past me to another giant circle of flesh. She digs her hand into the ground just beyond the circle and, with a loud grunt, slowly rips the entire thing right off the ground. The revealed hole spits out some blood and teeth, the latter of which Alice instantly absorbs into her giant self. She drops the circle to the ground as a crumpled pile of skin.

Alice then spends a few moments smashing large statues of red and white chess soldiers around us. Some of these statues contain more teeth for her to collect, or giant-sized rose petals to heal her wounds. I slowly advance up the path as she does this, the cloud-tail now turned back into mist-boots that push against the ground to keep me airborne.

Alice catches up to me as I use my mist-hands to blow apart a wall of rotting tentacles that reaches Alice's knees. We pass through to find a giant grid of red-and-white squares with some more of these chess soldiers. Alice stomps the soldiers to bits, not caring about which side they fight on. I skirt around the edge of the space and try to find our next path, but I can't stop myself from thinking about these boards and pieces. Why would the Red Queen place these statues along here, anyway?

I ask Alice this question as she smashes the final one, and she gives an answer once she collects anything that soldier dropped: "They're probably replicas of some chess-puzzles I had to do earlier on. If not, I'd say the Queen put them here to mock my efforts against her. Let's just keep moving."

I accept this explanation as we break down another wall of tentacles; at least Alice has a motive for destroying these images.

* * *

The next large courtyard we enter has the same enemies as the first; flesh pits that spawn Card Guards, and a cannon on top of a tower that's blocked off by several living tentacles. The cannon shoots at us pretty quickly after we get inside the area, and we both dodge it. There are three flesh pits here, which means more Guards for us to kill. That's not a bad thing right now, since the Guards are so easy to kill!

I call out, " _The Guards are mine!_ " as I turn my giant boots into the cloud-tail from earlier. The Guards come at me from three sides, since this area has more space for them to move around in. They strike at my cloud-tail with halberd and claw, and I gasp as I actually _feel_ their attacks.

Even though each wound only hurts for a second, there's a lot of strikes at once. It's only by instinct that I slither back out of striking range.

Alice shouts, "Hold on!" as she charges into the Guard's position with kicks, swipes, and stomps that shake the ground. The tiny soldiers don't stand a chance, and I turn my focus towards the new cannon. It aims over at Alice, so I slither between it and my giant-sized friend before it can fire. I open my mist-hands up in case it _does_ fire, but it instead angles up and fires an arcing shot above me.

I cry out, " _No, you don't!_ " as I launch myself skyward, mist-hands out to catch the cannonball. I jump higher than ever before and manage to snag the ball in midair. Unfortunately, the ball's speed knocks me back as I fall to the decaying ground. I panic and dismiss my mist-hands before I hit Alice by accident. The cannonball falls down near the right wall of the courtyard, but I don't see the impact it makes.

I splay my arms and legs out, and my mists quickly wrap around my limbs as four separate tornadoes of white air. Each tornado tears into the stone; the combined force sends dust, rotten flesh and broken stone flying around me. I feel like I'm digging into Queensland itself, which doesn't sound so bad. It'll make getting to the Queen a lot easier than fighting through all her damn servants!

"The Guards are down," Alice shouts to me as I hear a loud _rip_ from nearby. "Keep that cannon off me while I take care of the tentacle!"

I rise back into the air and twist my body upright; the tornadoes around my legs keep me stable. I glide across the ground as easy as walking, my tornado-legs ravaging the surface beneath me in a trail of destruction.

Alice goes to the tentacle, and I move between her and the cannon once more. My mists form a human-shaped shell around me with open hands. My legs are still twisters that blow bits of Queensland into the air, and possibly onto Alice, as well. I hear another loud grunt from Alice as the cannon angles up and down to find a good shot, but doesn't get a chance.

" _Augh,_ " the Queen cries out as the other tentacles blocking the tower from us lower back into the courtyard, " _I hurt!_ " I crack a smile at this; the Queen must be afraid of our teamwork.

My smile turns into shock as the cannon fires a shot right at my face. I bring up my mist-hands to redirect the shot, but the ball slams into my shell and breaks it apart.

I feel like my actual chest just got punched as I see the cannonball fly away from us both. I fall to the ground, each heartbeat now painful. I bite my tongue and flip my body upright before I crash onto the courtyard.

I force myself to look up as I see Alice charge at the tower like a wild beast. She first bashes her shoulder into the stone, her enlarged state adding force to her blow. She follows that up with a swift chop from her other hand that cleaves the tower straight in half. The cannon falls to the ground as Alice kicks away the rest of the tower, and stomps the heart inside.

My head pounds with tremendous force as another wall of tentacles rot away. Another courtyard rests beyond two walls of stone, too small to block us from getting there. It's got the same level of obstacles as the previous one, the only difference being that tower's cannon is already turned towards us.

" _Leave us be,_ " the Queen asks, not that we'll listen. " _No need to go further!_ "

I reform my shell of mist as I rise back into the air. Alice stomps over to me, and we both see all the flesh-pits and Card Guards in the area are gone. The other courtyard is our next target.

"Don't lose sight of our goal," Alice says as she points to a tall tower that's blocked by a greater wall of tentacles. This tower has a giant fleshy heart as a spire with a hanging eyeball inside. Its walls have pieces broken off to reveal bloody flesh beneath.

The Queen might be inside there, or this could be her central tower, I'm not sure. All that matters is that we have a target to reach, a destination to go towards.

* * *

The ground between us suddenly explodes, and we both jump back as dust and rotting flesh fly at our faces. I look to the other courtyard to see that tower's cannon preparing to fire again. I should have known it was about to fire; I saw it already aimed at us! Why didn't I warn Alice about that?

"These would-be castles are full of attitude and not much else," Alice remarks as she brushes some dirt off her giant dress. "Their inflated views require them to exaggerate the complexities of their positions, and to belittle those who expose their lie!"

" _Enough talk,_ " I shout as I blow the tentacle walls between us and the third courtyard apart, " _Let's take this tower down!_ "

I charge into the courtyard as the flesh pits create more Guards to fight. Is the Queen getting desperate, or can she not accept that her soldiers aren't very good against us?

"Keep the Guards busy," Alice shouts to me amidst the cries of hundreds of undead soldiers, "I'll get rid of the tower as soon as possible."

I answer her with a wordless cry of my own as I stride into the mass of soldiers. Some of them try to climb up my mist-body, but they just fall back to the ground because they can't walk on air. Others just attack my outer shell, which proves more effective. The fact I can actually feel pain, despite this shell being made up of a form of air, still confuses me.

But, as I've realized before now, it's useless to question the logic of Wonderland. Better to embrace the madness than question its importance.

At this point, I really don't give a damn on how things play out, so long as we win in the end. I've faced a whole gallery of enemies by this point, and these latest foes aren't much different. So what if I've faced them when they were alive? Now that they're undead, I get another chance to kill them!

I drop closer down to the ground and spin in a tight circle. This forms a cyclone of mist around me that sucks up all the nearby Guards. When I feel I can't hold any more of them, I slam them all into the ground as best I can. The bodies pile up all around me, a wall of once-animated flesh. I hear the Queen cry out again; Alice must have ripped out the tentacle by now.

Still-living Card Guards dig through their comrade's bodies to reach me. Skeletal faces peek out between the piles, bony mouths hiss at me. The Guards aren't giving up despite having their fellow soldiers killed right before them. They're relentless.

I suck in a breath, and launch myself out of the pile of Card Guards. My mist-boots reform and attach to my legs as I try to see how many Guards are left. The cyclone I made has ripped apart one of the flesh-pits, but two more still pump out Guards against me.

" _This will hurt you more than me,_ " I shout to the Guards. They just yell back a battle cry and charge my position. I shake my head at their actions, rise up a bit, angle my hands back, and propel myself forward right through their lines. I feel some slashes and stabs along my mist-boots, but I still get to the flesh-pits. My mist-boots knock all the Guards away, but the flesh-pits seem too strong for even a torrent of wind to destroy.

" _Arrgh,_ " I roar in frustration as I attack again and again, " _Why won't this thing die?!_ "

A louder scream makes me turn around to where the third tower is. Alice has already destroyed the building, and seem to have just stomped the heart inside to bloody pieces.

" _Oaaagh! Please! Go away!_ " The Queen's desperate command comes with a collection of whines and moans. She's probably acting to manipulate our emotions. Well, I won't be fooled this time!

Alice runs past me with a quick, "Get to the tower!" as she jumps up, and onto, one of the flesh pits. The combined force of both her feet shatters the pit into chunks. Her body absorbs any teeth that come out as she turns towards the last pit. She raises a hand, curls the fingers into claws, and slashes right into the stringy flesh.

I stare in mute awe as Alice pulls up both dirt and blood in her hand. She then squeezes this mixture between her fingers, which causes some of the stuff to splatter onto her face. What remains of the pit rots away, and Alice's body absorbs what teeth spill out.

Seeing Alice wreak so much carnage makes me so happy I'm on the side, and all the angrier at the Queen for trying to split us apart.

I turn to the tower Alice pointed out earlier, and see more of the stone has broken off to show the flesh beneath. What's more, the barrier of tentacles between it and us is gone. Maybe, if we wreck this tower, the Queen will be destroyed!

" _This ends now!_ " I yell out as I fly towards the Queen's tower. The eyeball on top moves to look at me, and I shoot it the most wicked grin I can manage. I move up the hill as quickly as I can, my mist-hands curled into fists as I pull them back to smash the Queen's tower apart.

I suddenly spit out something in my throat. Fear, and surprise, makes me cover my mouth with an actual hand. My giant fists fade back into mist as I realize something's wrong.

The energy I've used over this battle now flows out of control. I look to my arms as they turn to cold air, like in the Vale of Doom.

I instantly realize what's wrong; my powers have gone rampant from too much emotion. Why did this have to happen now, of all times?

The Queen doesn't seem to notice my weakness as she shouts in a worried voice, " _Unwelcome visitors, return from whence you came!_ "

I turn as I hear stomps from behind me, and see Alice come up the hill. She's smashed up whatever remains in her path, her face an angry glare. It's made all the more ferocious by the blood and dirt staining her appearance.

" _Cease and desist!_ " the Queen cries out as Alice comes up to me, but neither of us answer. I can't because I'm more focused on keeping my powers in check. Alice seems too angry to care. I float over to Alice, and grab her shoulder with my actual hands. My enhanced powers disperse a moment later.

I feel so tired, but I force my eyes to stay open as Alice rips out a gray heart from inside the tower and holds it in her hands. After a moment, Alice crushes the heart like it's a fragile pot.

The ground shudders and buckles as the Queen gives one last screech of pain. The massive tower crumbles to pieces on its own, which reveals a large basin filled with purple liquid. Is that stuff more of the 'Drink Me' potion, the one that makes us shrink?

"Are you still conscious?" I hear Alice ask me without turning her head.

I slam my hand onto her shoulder with my hand as a reply. I can't get a word out of my mouth without spilling some blood or bile. But, Alice seems to get what I'm trying to ask her; why did the cake make my powers like this?

"You need to rest from eating that cake," she tells me as she plucks me up between two fingers and places me down behind a wall next to the crumbled tower. "I see I fed you far too much to be good. But, it's done its work." My gut twitches at this, but Alice doesn't say any more as she picks up the basin of purple liquid.

"The ideal beverage," Alice remarks as she raises the basic to her lips. "Functional with a tolerable taste." She splashes the liquid over her face, which washes away all the blood and dirt.

I see her start to shrink down almost instantly, and she discards the basin as she steps over the wall towards me. A few seconds later, she's back to normal size beside me.

"Well," Alice comments as she cracks each of her knuckles in sequence, "that was rather uplifting, wouldn't you say?" I give her a nod and a smile before I turn away and spit out a batch of blood. My head aches as I slowly stand up on my own, the bitter taste of blood mixed with the sweetness of that cake.

"You were once two bits of the same psyche," the Cheshire Cat suddenly says to us from a place I can't see. "So, where does that leave you?"

I look around us. Who was he saying that to? I don't see the Cat, but I do see a single path in front of us. Walls are to either side, and behind us, as well as large pieces of stone that stand at different angles.

Since there's only one path for us to take, we go down it. It bends to the left and has a few gaps that we jump over, until we reach something different. Actually, something different and very, very gross.

* * *

At the back end of where the tower used to stand is a giant, open mouth with a single eye above it. The eye glares at us both as the mouth's tongue extends down into a dark abyss. Veins stretch from the teeth and gums, pulling the mouth even wider. Alice smashes a nearby breakable wall open to find a Liddel memory in a small enclosure. I move close enough to hear what the memory has to say.

" _His hand was slimy, Alice,_ " Lizzie speaks with disgust as Alice comes back out to grab some spare teeth, " _like an eel from the Isis. And his name won't help. Bumby! If he ever qualifies, his bed-side manner will require improvement!_ "

"Wait, wait," I get out with some difficulty, "Bumby met Lizzie? When was that?"

"Back when I was a child," Alice replies with a deep frown, like she forgot all about it until now. "While we were separated, I found memories that reminded me of when Lizzie was doted upon by suitors. Bumby was one of them, not the best. But, he's better than the one who… who…"

Alice shuts her eyes and shakes in place. She doesn't speak any further, but I suspect she's remembering the fire from many years ago. A memory like that doesn't go away easily. But, it sounds to me like she's learnt more about the blaze, or who caused it. She mentioned a person; does she finally know who did it?

" _Go away!_ " the Queen demands to us as we stand in front of the open mouth. " _There's no reason to proceed!_ "

"You shut up," I snap at the mouth with a gargle in my voice, "You're in no position to make demands!"

The eye blinks in response, and the mouth wiggles in place. I turn back to Alice, and she seems recovered; her eyes are open again, her focus returned.

"The Queen's probably down there," she states as she points to the abyss inside the mouth. "If I was on my last legs, I'd curl up in a safe place, too."

"The tower was just the start," I say as I spit out another batch of blood. I had thought we were so close, but we are actually still so far away from our goal.

"Opinions vary," I hear the Cheshire Cat say from, again, a place I can't see. "Still, to recover the past, to continue your search, you need to meet with her."

We nod to each other, and Alice takes the lead as we slide down the tongue. The darkness feels far too warm. I feel like I'm sliding down someone's throat, and into their stomach. I take short breaths as the Queen's _flesh_ comes back to me. I won't let that happen again. I won't be her puppet.

* * *

The tongue, now a saliva-covered slide, carries us down the darkness of the Queen's inner caverns. Hanging mounds of flesh pop up for a brief moment as we pass them by, and then retreat back into the shadows. Smaller mouths, eyes, noses and tongues serve as grisly monuments to the Queen's creativity.

We soon reach a split in the path. Alice takes the winding right side, and I slide down a straighter left side with more bumps. Blotches of molten Ruin soon appear on my path, hissing and bubbling through the saliva that covers them like a second skin. I dodge them as best I can, but the saliva makes the ride very slippery. I flail my arms to stay on the path. If I fall off now, I'll be lost forever in the darkness and _flesh_.

The slide curves around in a long arc as small pustules appear in my way. I smash through them, since I have no way to avoid them. They drop some recognizable teeth amidst globs of pus and rotten skin. I cough away what I can as my path rejoins with Alice's. Alice is a bit in front of me as we land in a chamber full of writhing tongues, pits of black drool, and rotting teeth. A pungent smell is in the air that makes my stomach bubble furiously. There's a pressure in my gut; I'm going to vomit.

As soon as I land, I fall to my knees and hack up a soupy mixture of bile, blood, and cake. This only heightens the bad taste in my mouth. Once the heaves stop, I look up to see Alice walking around the room. Then, my head tilts down once again. My vision blurs as I hack up even more soupy stuff. My limbs lock up, muscles squeezing against nothing at all.

As the sensations finally go away, I slump to one side on the flesh-covered floor. I feel the soupy, smelly liquid slide down my cheek and clog up my nostrils. Every breath smells or tastes terrible, even when I breathe slowly. How many times have I been sick, now?

I don't want to be down here. I _really_ don't want to be down here. I want to find the Queen, kill her, and get out as fast as possible. Why can't we just do that, instead of seeing her insides like this? I've had enough of this _flesh_ , already.

"Kyle," Alice's voice breaks through my stupor as I see her walk over to me. "Kyle! I've found a Radula Room behind a large scab. I'll want your help on whatever challenges it may have."

I try to form a response, but my tongue tastes too disgusting for me to form words. The best I can give is a moan. Alice doesn't say a word; instead, she stoops down in front of me. Her green eyes show concern, or irritation, at my prone state.

She rubs a hand along my suit, trailing over the horse-shaped shoulder plates. When she reaches my head, she gives me a few slow pats. They feel good.

"We'll get through this, Kyle," she calmly says. "I know this is scary; I had to face it, too. Just stay by me, and we'll keep each other safe. Trust me."

I slowly nod, and then press my hands against the floor. Alice stays by me as I slowly rise to my knees, and then stand up on my feet. I flex my fingers as I breathe through my mouth in an effort to prepare myself for what's to come. I remember my training, the discipline that I learnt under Caterpillar, the obsession I had to find Alice in London.

All these feelings seem opposite to Alice's constant focus through all these adventures. But, this is Wonderland, _her world_ , we're fighting in. She should feel at home, here, despite how mad it may be. Maybe I'm supposed to be her opposite, so she won't be distracted by things that I can deal with?

I discard that thought in place of our current goals, and nod to Alice. She pats my shoulder once before she moves over to the scab she mentioned earlier. We shrink down to find a keyhole that the scab mostly covered. Going through there, we find another Radula shell open and waiting for us. We don't keep it waiting any longer.

* * *

I open my eyes when the air around me shifts dramatically. I now stand in the center of three branching paths of flesh and stone. Each path leads to another of the obstacles that Alice and I just faced; flesh pits, tentacles, and a large cannon on top of a stone tower. The only difference is that one path leads up a hill, and is about twice as wide as the other two. The sky here is a whirling grey, shaped like a dome through the rows of wind that lead to a pinpoint directly above me.

I look to my right to see Alice beside me. She's returned to her giant state, but she now wears her 'Vale of Tears' clothes. I double-check how I look, and stare in surprise as I am now, like her a giant in my 'Vale of Tears' clothes. I turn to Alice for an answer, but she just smiles at my unspoken question.

"That's what I intended the 'Eat Me' cake to do to you from the start," she says as I note the pit to our right starting to spit out Card Guards. "But, it seems your… injuries changed that. No matter," she continues as she turns to face the Guards, "now you have the chance to do things my way."

She then breaks into a sprint at the Guards, her stomps ringing in my ears. When she gets close enough, she deals a sharp kick at the nearest soldiers. Any Guard that gets hit is either launched out of sight, or broken to bits. I run over as I see the Guards surround Alice; even though she's strong, I don't want her to be overwhelmed.

Unfortunately, the path proves too narrow for both of us to stand side-by-side, or pass by each other. I end up standing behind Alice as she gives swipes, kicks, and stomps to the Guards that still surround her. The best 'help' I can give is stomping out any Guards that try to attack her from behind. The only ones that try to do that are those that slip between her legs while she wipes out their comrades.

In short, it's not much 'help'.

"Alice," I say with booming voice as I turn to a second pit-and-tower, "I'm going for the other tower. I'll try to call if I really need help from you."

Alice gives a loud grunt which I assume to be her acceptance of this plan, or the effort she takes in her actions. She quickly picks up a group of Guards in one hand, crushes them, and throws them onto other Guards like a ball. I move down the path at a slow pace, in case Alice does need me back there quickly.

I get over to the second pit as the second tower's cannon aims itself at me. I don't have much room to dodge, and I don't want to get hit by a ball of that size. The pit starts spawning Guards when I get close to it. I have to destroy it.

The Guards charge at me, so I punch the ground in front of me with both fists. This makes the path ripple, and knock the Guards off their feet. I stride over to them before they get up. Before I make another move, they suddenly jump onto my legs. Their claws dig into my skin like needles. My eyes widen as the Guards start to climb up my body. They want to topple me down.

I try to slap the Guards off me like I would a bug, since the Guards are now about the sizes of insects. They each fall off with one good strike, but there's just too many at once. They swamp my legs, and then my waist. Two hang on each arm as I try to shake the others off. I'm sure one's eventually going to get on my face, and that'll be the end of me.

That turns out wrong. The tower's cannon, which I've ignored in spite of the Guards, fires a shot right into a place I didn't suspect was vulnerable; my genitals.

I screech in a voice I don't recognize. My vision turns red as a fiery pain mixes with burning rage. Whoever controls this cannon has a wicked sense of humor. I _hate_ wicked senses of humor, especially ones that like to _shoot my dick off_!

I force my legs to move with Guards still clambering up my body. A single tentacle wriggles between me and the tower. I grip its wriggling skin with both hands and heave up. The limb thrashes against me as my hands slip and slide, but I continue to tug. I do not want anything worse than a cannonball to hit to any part of me.

The tentacle comes out with a loud _rip_. I then use its still-wriggling body to pick off some Guards that are close to my face. The wall of tentacles before the cannon-tower falls away as I drop their friend onto the path. The cannon fires again, but I dodge with a far lean to the right. I then charge at the tower, and slam my shoulder into the stone.

The impact makes that entire arm burn with pain, but the stone breaks off without any further effort. I then raise my right leg and slam it into the lower part of the tower, which breaks both stone and Card Guards apart. I repeat this kick a second later with the other leg, and then grip the tower's top with enough force to break the battlements apart.

With a loud, "Fuck you!" I slam my head into the tower. It crashes down around me; my anger dulls any sort of pain. I brush off the rubble with a hand as another large, grey heart lies exposed. I raise my boot to stomp it, and then catch one last Guard that clings to my waist.

I grin as I get a new idea. It may not work, but it'll be damn entertaining if it does.

I snatch up the Guard between my fingers, wrap my hand around it without crushing its bones, and draw my hand back. I focus my aim on the giant heart, and throw the Guard right at it. The soldier hits the heart like one of those cannonballs, and both of them explode into bloody pulps.

"Yes! Fuck yes!" I shout to the sky. "That's how you break a heart in style!" I punch the air around me a few times, because why the fuck not?

"Well," I hear Alice say, "I suppose that is also one way to properly humiliate your enemies."

I look over to see her standing on my path, blocking my way back to the center. Blood and dust coat her clothing, but her eyes are alight and she has that witty smile on her face. I don't know whether I should be embarrassed or glad that she saw me do that move.

"Don't worry about it," Alice says before I can give any kind of explanation. She whirls around with the words, "We've got one tower left. Let's take it out." Her hair flows behind her as she says this, and we both advance on the final tower.

The sloped path makes our ascent more difficult, even with us moving up side-by-side. With Guards charging at us, and a canon firing on us, we stay on the defensive. I charge forward once to try and break through, and the Guards quickly swarm me like I'm their next meal. I have to pull back and get Alice's help to slap them all off even as more come toward us.

Despite all these odds, we eventually get to the flesh-pit, one flesh-filled step at a time. It is grueling work, but we watch the other's backs long enough so that there aren't any major surprises. When we reach the pit, Alice stomps that to bits while I use my giant-sized strength to rip the one tentacle that always stands before the rest.

The other tentacles retreat as I toss the limb aside, and the cannon just misses a shot at my head. Alice storms over and gives the tower a quick punch-punch-kick combo to break it apart. Then, she stomps the heart in the same way as in Queensland.

Alice turns to me as her mouth opens to say something, but the air twists and shapes into the old Vale of Tears before she can get a word out. The Cheshire Cat is there, grinning as always. He gives us both a nod before he vanishes, and two vials of Rose Paint are left behind. Alice closes her mouth and quickly touches the vials. As soon as she does, the air fades to darkness.

Hysteria, for once, is silent…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We've entered (or reentered) Queensland's interior, and the Queen still reigns within the flesh. The Radula Rooms also seem to be getting more challenging. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	34. By Order Of The Queen

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter of the story, and what may be the last chapter in Queensland. We have a chat with a certain monarch to uphold, after all. Here's hoping you enjoy it.**

 **There's going to be a special character put in at the end of this chapter; those of you who know the 'Alice: Madness Returns' DLC will probably figure out who it is.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I feel a bit better as I step back into the flesh-filled chamber. Now that I know how Giant Alice fights, I know what she can do in that form. Who knows what else the Red Queen will use to stop us?

Alice and I split up to look around. I see a lot of flesh, teeth, blood, and organs, which is expected. Some of these objects wiggle or move when I look at them. I don't know how the Queen designs things, and I don't thing I want to know. But, if everything is 'upside-down' like what the Cheshire Cat previously said, then an exit should be in the last place we think to look.

That's logical for Wonderland, right?

"Kyle," Alice calls out a few moments later, as if to prove my mental point, "I've found something. Come take a look."

I follow Alice's voice to a smaller side chamber of flesh and bone. She points to the ceiling here, and I see a large, beating blue heart like the ones we've stomped to pieces. Its color is oddly bright compared to the flesh's dark shades, almost like it wants to be noticed. Alice answers that demand when she pulls out the Pepper Grinder.

A few quick shots of pepper at the heart shatters it with a spurt of blood. I almost instantly feel the flesh around us shift and stretch, and we race back into the main chamber to find out what happened. Alice spots the change first; a piece of flesh has slid back to reveal a passageway. We quickly go down it, and through a narrow space. I try to avoid touching the walls as they drip saliva down onto the floor.

The passageway doesn't last very long, and it leads to a small space above a lake of bubbling green liquid. There are other spaces on the far left and right, but I don't want to risk jumping across. I sniff the air once, and the sharp tang of bile makes my nostrils quiver. I had just gotten that smell out of my nose, and now it's come back.

"That stuff's going to melt our faces off," I comment as a large bubble from the lake pops open to release a wisp of green smoke. "How are we getting across?"

"There's always a way," Alice answers as she walks closer to the lake. "We just need to find it, and—ah, there we go!"

Alice's exclamation comes as two small platforms made of wiggling flesh rise up from the bile to our left. A few seconds later, the platforms fall back down into the liquid, and then rises back up in a repeating pattern.

' _Timing is everything with this,_ ' I muse as Alice hops onto the first platform as it rises up. She crosses over the platforms with a well-timed twirl, turns around, and beckons me across. I leap to the first platform when it's at its highest point, and only tap my feet against the second one in order to reach where Alice is. I land on my own, glad to still be alive.

We move into another side-chamber, and spot another blue heart above the hole we entered through. Alice shoots it apart with the Grinder, and a gurgling cry directs me toward the lake. Drifting Ruin, coated the same green as the bile, rise up from the muck with two more platforms. The platforms rise, and fall, on the far right. My shoulders sink as I realize things just got worse.

"Of course these things would be here," Alice mutters as she aims the Grinder at the closest Drifting. She then gives me a quick, "Stand back."

I take a few steps away from Alice as she slowly walks towards the lake, grinding pepper bullets with each step. The Drifting she hits doesn't stay airborne when its mask gets struck, and I shudder as it melts in the bile with a loud _hiss_.

The next Drifting opens its face up, and Alice teleports back to avoid its projectiles. She fires back just as I see a third Drifting Ruin approach. I summon the Ice Wand, and fire a bolt at the tar-like creature. My shot misses its target, but the Drifting does turn to me. I step out into full view as I fire another bolt, but the Drifting hides its face before it gets damaged. The bolt does slow it down, though.

Alice jumps onto the first of the floating flesh platforms, and fires into her Drifting's face at close range. It falls into the bile with a screech, and she quickly jumps to the next platform. Another Drifting rises up to confront her as I turn back to my own foe. It reveals its mask to me with a low grunt.

I swap to the Cup, and teleport back to avoid my foe's spiked… balls. I fire back, and manage to shatter its mask. It falls into the bile, and its body melts into black goop with another _hiss_. The bile swallows it up a moment later, and I cross the first two flesh platforms without any trouble.

Alice shoots down another Drifting just as I reach the place we first entered. She stands at the edge of the same space, and her arm has a long, bleeding slash. I don't ask where it came from, and she doesn't say a word as she jumps across the two other platforms. She now stands before a dark, narrow passageway. I follow her down it a few moments later.

Many eyes stare at us from inside this passage's fleshy walls. They have many colors, shapes, and shades. They all unnerve me, break my focus. They all have similar expressions of anger, or pain. I stick close to Alice as the eyes watch us from what seems like every possible angle.

A disturbing thought comes to me; how many of these eyes are the Queen's, and how many are ones taken from her prisoners? If the Queen ordered heads cut off, and bodies frozen in stone, then their eyes would probably be placed somewhere else…

* * *

The eye-filled passage ends with another blue heart above a closed mouth. Alice shoots the heart apart, and the mouth slowly opens up with a large amount of drool. A tongue lolls out to slide us into another dark abyss. I follow Alice down after we share a look, and this slide only lasts a few seconds.

We land in a pool of blood that reaches my ankles and a bit splashes on my chest when I land. Insidious Ruin, coated blood-red, rise up to challenge us. The blood on their bodies makes them a bit harder to see, but I recognize their cries and screeches.

"These Ruin gestate in every possible wound," Alice states as she summons the Vorpal Blade. "Let's fix that."

She teleports before I get a word in, and digs the Blade into the mask of the closest Insidious. The mask flies off after a good tug, and its former owner flails its arms into Alice's dress. I summon the Automaton Hammer and join in the carnage, eager to spill some blood that isn't my own.

The Insidious crumple before the Hammer like they always have, but the blood on their bodies gets in my eyes. I brush off as much as I can after a few good swings, and a _foomph_ of fire comes from in front of me. Claws dig into my chest, and I hiss from new throbs of pain. The Hammer's _throbs_ echo back as I thumb the power switch and give the Hammer a sideways slam that splatters its body over its nearby allies.

I turn to these Insidious with a spinning strike, and reduce all but one to blood-covered black tar. That one slashes into my open back when I stop my spin. The pain helps me whirl around with a wild swing, but my swing goes over its body entirely. It slams its blood-coated body into my side, pushing me back a few steps. I swing down, and it scuttles to one side to avoid me.

I grit my teeth as I teleport back twice in a row, and swap to the Incense Cup. Are these Ruin learning from our first encounters, since they've been around since the beginning of this adventure? It seems like they have learned how to better dodge. Fortunately, their bodies are just as frail and weak as before, which I prove as my incense bullets fill this maneuverable foe with holes.

I turn to face the Insidious, but they're all gone. Alice comes over to me covered in blood, her eyes alight in battle-fury. She brushes a hand through her soaked hair, and shoots me a smile far too happy for the killing we just did. I spurt out a chuckle as I try to imagine how people in London would react to this side of her. Then, I turn my eyes to our surroundings to find the next pathway.

I see another black scab of flesh; maybe a keyhole is behind here. I signal Alice to it, and she instantly shrinks down to go inside. I follow her through, and we find a Bumby memory on the other side. The not-so-good doctor seems on another speech when he says, " _Everything has a season, Alice. A flower blooms and fades away. Memories, too, have a useful life. We should eliminate the ones that hurt._ "

I mentally disagree with Bumby's words; my memories show me a life I forgot I had, filled with good fortune and horrible suffering. I may not be 'sane' by London's standards, but I guess I never fit in with London to begin with. I'm sure now that my real home is here, in Wonderland.

Alice leads us through a small wall of flesh that parts open for us when we go near it. The room beyond it doesn't have any blood on the floor, but it does have several Ruin blotches. More Insidious Ruin, normal-colored ones this time, scuttle up from the blotches.

"I got this, Alice," I call out as I summon the Fire Whip to my hands. "It's time you saw my newest weapon in action."

Alice starts to object, but stops as I snap the Whip's rope at one of the Insidious. It cries out when struck, and runs around like a madman. I draw the Whip back with a tug of my wrist, and snap it at two Ruin next to each other. They barely scuttle away from the strike, and I run over to them. I spin on my toes, and spin the Whip in an arc. A wave of fire flies out, and both Insidious are bathed in flames.

The other Insidious charge at me as these first few burn away. I flick my eyes between them all. Then, I suck in a breath, dig my feet into the flesh. and spin around like when I use my Hammer. The Whip's flames make a vortex of fire that spreads out in all directions at once. The Ruin's cries fuse together into a single gurgle as heat fills the room for several moments.

When the heat fades, I pant to regain my strength. My muscles ache from the exertion, but no new Ruin come up to fight us. I dismiss the Whip, and turn to face Alice's judgement.

Her wide eyes and raised eyebrows don't promise good results. My own eyes widen as I see a scorch mark along the left edge of her dress; I didn't mean to damage her clothes!

"While I'm quite curious as to how you got such a weapon, and how it relates to you," Alice finally says, "we have bigger fish to fry, no pun intended."

I blink. That's not what I expected her to say. Wouldn't she be more upset about my using fire as a weapon? Fire did kill her parents, after all.

Wait, why am I thinking about that?

I nod to Alice, and accept her judgement. She moves to one end of the chamber, and I walk to the other. I soon find a blue heart hidden in a hard-to-see space, and I use the Incense Cup to break it apart. I hear the Pepper Grinder fire a moment later, and then feel the flesh beneath my feet move a bit. I look to either side, and just catch Alice enter a small corridor. I follow behind her, taking careful steps as the passage pulses with its own heartbeat.

The room we step into is a literal copy of the last room, except there are no enemies here to fight. We find two more blue hearts in the exact same places as the last two, and they break just as easily. Is the Queen getting desperate, she's using another copycat trick to waste our time?

When both hearts are shot, a wall of flesh opens up for us. The room beyond this wall splays out into a massive chamber of flesh, blood, and bone. Rays of sunlight break in every so often, but most of the chamber is too dark to make out.

Alice and I slowly walk forwards, our steps making small _squish_ sounds. The air here feels thick, like there's something very large, and very powerful, here with us. I stick by Alice as she moves forward with a quicker step than me; I want to be ready in case anything tries to attack us.

Suddenly, we stop. In front of us is the person we've sought; the Red Queen, Queen of Hearts, ruler of the decaying Queensland.

* * *

The Queen sits on a throne of carefully-carved rotting flesh, shaped in the image of a heart. She fills the throne with her presence, and her lower body also splays out into the room through a huge array of tentacles where legs would be. Her hands are bony red, each finger ending in a sharpened tentacle that looks far stronger than the Card Guard's claws. They look like the hands in the portrait I saw in the foyer, when we first arrived here.

I get a shock when I see the Queen's face. It is human, very much like a human girl's. Her skin is a light grey, her eyes green and blue, her hair a dark black, her lips pink and red. She looks like a young version of Alice, maybe even Alice as a child. Could this girl really have been the one who manipulated me to her service?

The words of the Queen come back to me:" _Beauty is in the eye of the beholder._ " I force my fear of this monarch down as I look her clothing over.

She wears a very fancy gown made of white, red, and black colors. A white frill stretches from her neck up to her head. A golden crown with red fabric, and shining jewels, floats above her head. Her right hand clutches a golden staff with a red heart as the centerpiece. All her clothing looks beautiful, but faded. Could this connect to Queensland's overall decay over the years? This place still has power, but it is less than what it used to be.

The Queen taps the tentacle-fingers of her left hand against her throne with a steady _click-click-click_. Her eyes gaze at us both without blinking, her tapping a slow rhythm that gets in my bones. I feel two inches tall before her. The only other sounds that fill the room are a dripping of blood, and whispers that slip into my ears like a passing breeze.

Alice finally cuts the silence by saying, "We were expecting someone else!"

" _You don't know your own mind!_ " I jump as the Queen's human face speaks that monstrous voice I've heard in this land. The whispers cut into her words, like they want a turn to speak out against us.

"It's nearly a complete stranger," Alice agrees with her hands on her hips.

" _What you claim to have forgotten is merely what you've denied,_ " the Queen slowly explains, emphasizing her words. " _You've recaptured your vagrant memories; what are you_ doing _with them? You once rejected my attempts to control our lives, forcefully! But now you've allowed another to succeed in my role!_ "

The Queen releases her scepter, and looks at her right hand in dismay, as she says that last sentence. She looks like she's about to cry. Even so, I suspect she's not being completely honest with us. It sounds to me like she wants her old power back, and Alice is to blame for her losing it.

"I certainly won't miss your tentacles," Alice states, apparently echoing my thoughts about the Queen's exaggeration. The Queen lowers her hand at those words, and stares Alice down with a dark glare.

" _You'd prefer the hot, stinking breath,_ " she affixes 'breath' by pounding her right fist on that side's armrest that shakes the whole chamber, " _and unyielding attention of a potent, unreasoning, unfeeling hellraiser? I don't think so!_ "

"Can you give us more than a warning?" Alice's tone grows angrier at the Queen's words. "Caterpillar said you might help!"

" _I'd need a better reason to respond than what's currently on offer!_ " The Queen pounds her fist down again, and this time leans forward towards us.

"If you don't, we're all doomed," Alice states as she suddenly points a finger at me, "including every servant you've ever bribed into doing your proper share."

"Alice," I hiss as the Queen's gaze shifts to me, "don't get me involved in this! I'm not important compared to Wonderland!"

" _Oh, but you seemed important,_ " the Queen speaks directly to me, " _at least, I_ thought _you were when you first arrived. If I showed you as the falsehood against Alice's success, then she wouldn't be missing what's important. She would have rebelled against you, and your 'friendship', trusting only herself for guidance. It seems I was wrong in my assumptions; you never had any strength to manipulate!_ "

"I may not be strong," I respond with a burst of determination as I take a step towards the flesh-controlling monarch, "but I do have an idea as to what's driven you so far as to consider me a good option. Your plight similar to mine, which _you_ manipulated to make me trust you."

" _You place your intelligence equal to mine?_ " The Queen clutches her throne's armrests as she sits up straight in her seat. " _Speak out, then! Let us hear this 'idea' you claim is so correct, before I tell you exactly why it is so wrong!_ "

"It's simple, Your Majesty," I say with a deep breath. "You are absolutely afraid of losing what you consider the most important thing in your life."

The Queen blinks, and I hear Alice's feet shuffle on the flesh we stand on. Neither woman tells me to shut up, so I continue.

"Ever since I can remember," I say to the near-silent chamber, "I've had the desire to find Alice, and protect her. She has called me 'barbarian' because of how reckless I act to keep her alive, when she can obviously take care of herself."

I keep my eyes on the Queen's reaction to these words. She doesn't flinch.

"From what I've heard, and learned," I continue, "you have a similar connection to your reign, which you still claim to hold over this land. You were once a powerful ruler, and you lost that power by… improper circumstances."

I try to phrase those last words carefully, but the Queen still frowns at me. I see I messed up, but I need to keep going.

"However," I resume, "if you had killed me, Alice would probably be more upset than she is now. You told me Alice would have been better off without me, but I have fought with Alice through many challenges. We've won against each one. Maybe, if it were just her, she would have been easier to manipulate to your side."

" _I grow weary of your words, peasant,_ " the Queen warns me as she slouches down with a _clack_ of her claws. " _What is your point?_ "

"My _point_ ," I say with a gesture to the flesh all around me, "is that you will do anything to keep your reign, your kingdom, alive. You've wrapped flesh around the stone, reanimated your Guards, and made mockeries of the White chess army, all to keep people afraid of you and what you represent. You are driven by fear, Red Queen; _your fear_ of losing the respect you once earned!"

" _You think I am afraid?!_ " The Queen clutches her scepter in her right hand as her voice grows louder. " _I fear nothing that challenges my kingdom!_ "

"This isn't about your kingdom," I shout back at her. "It's about _you_. I don't want to lose to the Ruin that corrupts Wonderland, while you don't want to see everything you've done be a footnote in Wonderland's history. But, Queensland is becoming history right now; you're just not accepting it! You're dooming yourself by living in a fantasy of absolute power!"

"Kyle!" Alice's shout stops me mid-breath. "That's enough! Can't you see what you're doing to her?"

I stare back at Alice in confusion, and then look again at the Queen. A very human look of anger is on her face. Her right hand grips the scepter so hard I think it'll break in half. I don't want her to collapse the entire chamber on our heads, or worse, so I step back to Alice's side without another word.

The chamber is silent for several long, tense moments. Then, the Queen straightens her shoulders and releases her scepter.

" _We won't be doomed,_ " she says directly to Alice, " _we'll be forgotten. Well, I may survive in here, but you two are certainly finished!_ " She waves her right hand in a wide arc, and then clenches her fist on the word 'finished'. The emphasis makes me fear, for just a moment, that she'll be the one to finish us off.

" _You see the pattern of destruction,_ " she continues with further gestures of her arms and hands. " _I know you do! The Train is trying to destroy all evidence of your past, and especially the fire! Now, who would want that? Who benefits from your madness?_ "

Something moves in the chamber's darkness. I catch a glimpse of shifting flesh. I glance at Alice, but she seems more focused on the Queen's words.

"The destruction of Wonderland," she slowly asks herself as she looks down to the floor, "is the destruction of me?"

" _Indeed! And vice-versa!_ " I turn to face the Queen, and just catch something shift out of sight by her throne. Is the chamber coming alive all around us, or is this more of the Queen's manipulative tricks?

"I've set it in motion," Alice notes out loud as I hear several things move at once, "I can derail it. This is good for me. I'm not insane, I didn't kill my family. I _am_ fine. I'm not mad, I'm innocent. I-I mean not guilty!"

At that moment, several tentacles burst into view from the darkness above, below, and around us. Alice claps her hands around her mouth as they squeeze around her waist. Other tentacles lock my arms to my sides, and gag my mouth before I can scream. The tentacles lift me, and Alice, off the ground, dangling towards the Queen. She still sits on her throne, like she hasn't done a thing. She looks at us both with an expression I can't make out.

"What's happening?" Alice shouts from behind her hands. "What are you doing?!"

" _The Train must be stopped,_ " the Queen ominously states. " _But, there's more to do. Both of your views conceal tragedies. The whole truth you both claim to see eludes you because you won't look at what's around you!_ "

The Queen suddenly opens her mouth, and I stare in horror as her lower jaw dislocates to an extreme state. Her mouth opens wide enough for me to see down her throat, and I now notice her razor-sharp teeth. The tentacles draw us towards the Queen's mouth, no matter how much we struggle.

My heart hammers in my chest as I realize the Queen intends to swallow us whole. I don't want to go back into that flesh, not again!

Alice screams out as we are plunged into warm, sticky darkness…

* * *

" _There is no method in this madness!_ "

The Queen's voice shouts this out from within a red haze, the only thing that stands out from the darkness. A blurred image of her throne comes into view, but it fades away before I can properly see it.

The darkness brightens to reveal a fat, middle-aged man in a stained doctor's coat. Round-rimmed glasses are delicately perched on his nose, and his face carries a disappointed scowl.

"In my professional opinion," the man states with the voice of Dr. Wilson, "madness is often a treatable disease, though perhaps not in this case."

The man fades away before I can ask him what 'case' he is talking about. Is it Alice, or some other 'mad' patient?

" _Authority must be obeyed,_ " the Queen dictates as the same red haze appears again. Then, her frowning image comes sharply into focus as she concludes, " _or it must be overthrown!_ "

Again, the Queen vanishes before I can say a word. Her image changes into Nurse Witless in a uniform I guess is fit for 'nurses' of London.

" _Cruel to be kind,_ " she states in a sing-song voice, " _that's my technique, as they say. But she's as mad as a hatter, poor dearie!_ "

I'm sure she's taking about Alice, since I don't know any other women who are as mad as hatters. Personally, I think the Mad Hatter is at his own level of madness, but I can't get a word in before the image vanishes.

" _The worst is over… and over… and over,_ " Dr. Bumby's voice repeats as the key he used to hypnotize me waves back and forth. The man then appears with key in hand as he urgently states, " _Forget it, Alice! Forget it!_ "

The darkness consumes the image, only to replace it with a sickly-sweet smell. Something keeps my mouth from opening, and something else locks my arms around my chest. I breathe through my nose as a bright light forces me to close my eyes. When I open them again, I'm no longer in that darkness. But, I'm still trapped.

Four black, padded walls surround me. The bright light comes from a single bulb that hangs from a high ceiling, and shines on the padded floor I lie on. A thick, metal door blocks me from the outside world. A small square window in the door is shielded by bars of metal. This feels similar to the gaol cell, but far worse.

I stand up… or try to, and fail. I look down at my legs to figure out what's wrong. My eyes widen at the thin, white robe over my naked flesh. Belts are wrapped tightly around my arms; their grip doesn't loosen when I struggle. I try breathing through my mouth again, but it remains clamped shut. I angle my eyes down at my nose and barely see a large metal device strapped over most of my face.

I don't know where this place is, but I don't like it. The air here is too sweet, too cold, to feel comfortable. I should get out.

I shuffle along the floor until I reach a corner of the room. I then shimmy up the corner until I am properly standing up. I take a step forward, and then another.

My legs buckle beneath me, like they've just been hurt. I snort through my nose, and drool spills out between my shut lips. Nevertheless, I walk to the center of the room, and stand there. Why do my legs hurt like this, anyway? I don't recall breaking them, just my arm from that fall in Queensland.

A loud _clack_ turns my attention to the metal door. It slowly swings inward, and to the side, as some twisted version of Alice steps into the room. It isn't the Red Queen's youthful look, but it matches that woman's level of 'different'.

For starters, this Alice has the long ears of a rabbit sticking out from beneath a black top hat. Her hands are covered in fingerless black gloves, and long claws replace her fingers. Her feet are now large white rabbit paws. Her hair is now a blackish-grey, her eyes a bright purple instead of their usual green.

Her clothing is something else to take note of. She has something in red that my mind calls a _cravat_ around her neck, tied with a clip with the 'Omega' symbol. Her white dress is underneath a dark-red jacket, which is then underneath golden waistcoat with three triangular buttons. White _spats_ , so my mind calls them, stretch down to her ankles.

This Rabbit-Alice takes out a golden pocket watch from inside her coat, and flips open the lid. She frowns at what she sees, closes the watch, and looks up at me while she puts the device back.

"Well?" she snaps at me in the White Rabbit's voice. "Aren't you coming?"

I just stand there, absolutely confused as to how all this is happening.

"For heaven's sake," Rabbit-Alice exclaims as she delicately pinches the bridge of her nose, "this isn't a hard choice to make. Either you come with me, or I leave you here. What's taking you so long to choose?" She then checks her watch again, and shakes her head at what she sees before putting it back.

This Alice's attitude rubs me the wrong way; she reminds me of the White Rabbit, and not just in the look. However, if she knows a way out of this place, then she knows more than I do. I'm not sure who else is here, and she looks like she'll only give me one chance.

I stumble over to her. She nods her head at me before checking her watch a third time. Up close, I can see the watch has thirteen numbers etched along the outer ring, and the two hands constantly tick with each second.

"We're already terribly late as is," she says before she pockets the watch yet again. "We can't afford to put any bets on being lucky." She locks eyes with me as she then says, "You had better keep up; I'm not in the mood for slowpokes."

I try to say, "I'll do my best," but all that comes out is gibberish, and a bit of drool. Rabbit-Alice rolls her eyes at this, and leads me out of the doorway. As I look at her back, I see the 'Hollow Yves' skull Alice usually wore on her dresses is replaced with an actual rabbit's tail. A rabbit's foot pokes out on either side of the tail, and the ribbon that holds them together is a light-pink shade.

The Rabbit-Alice leads me out into a hallway that warps before my eyes. One second has me seeing dreary, old, moldy gray stone with rusted metal doors; the next, I stand inside blindingly-bright white walls with trails of blood that streak over polished metal doors. Voices scream, moan, cry, and shout every few seconds, but I can't see anyone else around us in the hallway.

"Come _on_ ," Rabbit-Alice urges me as she tugs against my robe's thin fabric, "we need to go! This asylum isn't safe for slow thinkers!"

 _Asylum_. So, this is the kind of place that Alice was in for ten years. I can certainly see why she didn't like it here. Escaping is a good idea.

I follow closely behind Rabbit-Alice as she guides me down the hallway to an unknown destination…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We've gone from the Red Queen to an asylum, and see a different version of Alice is helping Kyle out. What will happen in this place? Who else will Kyle see here? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	35. Madness Walks With Me

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in this story. We've gone from Queensland to an asylum; what horrors await?**

 **To be honest, this chapter is a bit... weird. Revising the scenes here took longer than I expected (had to cut a few things for insignificance), and what I've made here doesn't feel complete. But, that's just my opinion.**

 **Also, this chapter will mention all the DLC (Downloadable Content) dress designs for 'Alice: Madness Returns', as well as some scene/character concepts from 'The Artwork of Alice: Madness Returns' book. You can find these characters/concepts online, if you want to get a feel for what I had to work with.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' franchise are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content (or DLC) that wasn't included in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any special custom elements they choose to introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The dark corridors Rabbit-Alice leads me down don't make me feel any better. I stumble along as best I can behind her, since my injured legs force me to walk slower than normal. The walls switch between moldy gray, and blood-splattered white, every few minutes. I can't tell which set of colors is the right one. I eventually call one the 'decayed state', and the other the 'bloody state', since those are the best features I can pick up.

Rabbit-Alice doesn't speak up we walk. Screams come from behind a thick metal door, a small light flickers from the shadowed ceiling. She checks her watch every few minutes, and her ears twitch at every new sound. Her hands and feet move with a hop to her step, probably a worried hop.

Suddenly, she jumps a foot into the air with a yelp, and then lets out a rapid string of curses. She clutches her foot as she hops around in a circle; I don't move to help her. After a few moments, she pulls out a rusty nail from the fur. Blood seeps from the open wound, but she quickly takes a Shrinking Violet petal from in her dress. She covers the wound before it bleeds very much. The petal melts into the wound as I stare at it, and no further blood comes out.

"Shrinking Violets," she whispers to me. "I suppose they're good for something. Now, let's keep moving."

I grunt in agreement, and try to keep my drool in my mouth. We soon reach a two-way intersection. Signs on the walls either way, but I can't make out the words. They look rusted away in the 'decayed state', or are coated in blood that spells out, " _NOWHERE SAFE_ " in the 'bloody state'.

"The fools," Rabbit-Alice remarks as she notes the signs, "Why make temporary marks on permanent problems?" Her tail bobs for a moment as she picks a side for us to go down.

A second later, she shoves me against the wall. She looks down the corner as I hear two pairs of heavy footsteps approaching from that side. There's nowhere to hide, nowhere to run. All these places look just as dangerous as where we are right now. This asylum isn't safe at all.

"Pray tell," a deep male voice says from where the footsteps come, "what's the plan for today?"

"The same thing we do every day, dumbbell," another male voice spits out, "Try to get these blasted patients cured."

The footsteps grow louder and louder, until their source reveals itself; two men with round bellies, and rounder heads. One stands a foot or taller than the other, and both wear heavily-stained white coats and pants.

"Come now, brother," one says as they walk right by us, "some of these people certainly aren't 'blasted'. Have some respect—"

At that moment, reality shifts to the 'bloody state'. The man's eyes bug out of his head, and his teeth jut from his mouth. His shirt changes to red-and-white stripes, and a hat with a propeller sits on his pointed head.

"—you fucking twat," he continues with a grating tone that gets in my ears. "I'll rip your weeny dick off when we finish up here!"

"Shut the fuck up," the smaller man taunts with the same type of face, and clothing, as his 'brother', "ya yellow-bellied, cunt-licking, fire-kissing belcher of good—"

Reality shifts back to the 'decayed state'. The men now have clean-cut hair, their eyes squinting against the bright light above them.

"—scotch after we're done here," he says as he rubs a hand over his belly. "What do you think, brother?"

"That would be exquisite," the 'brother' responds with a smile. "A good round with the devil's drink can cure all sorts of ailments—"

Reality shifts over, again, as the men walk down where we were. I stare as their buttocks bulge out of their pants, like they just slipped the clothes on with no care how they looked.

"—and this time," he says in that demented voice, "you're paying for it. I ain't giving a single penny unless it's for a good fucking with an uppity whore!"

"A-fucking men," the smaller brother lets out with a roaring laugh, "ya shit-eating piss knob! Grow some hair on your arse, why don't ya!"

The two men continue this banter as they walk out of sight. Each shift in reality changes their tone between crazed, and calm. It's like one's a reflection of the other.

I feel a tug on my robe. I turn, and Rabbit Alice gives me a cold stare as she jangles the pocket watch in her hands. She doesn't say a word as she pockets the watch yet again, and leads me down the path where those two men had come from.

We walk past several cell doors, and stop at a man who stands facing a wall. He's bound up like me in the 'decayed state', but his eyes are bandaged over in the 'bloody state'.

Rabbit-Alice tugs at my arm. We pass by the man, and I hear him mutter some words; "All is lost. Nowhere safe. Trust nothing. Find way out."

My head erupts with pain. I stumble to a wall and shut my eyes against a wave of pictures that move far too fast for me to see. My nose fills with blood as more drool runs down my mouth…

* * *

… _as the voices around me keep getting louder. I remain silent as they chant the same words over and over, their volume ringing in my ears. I stand in the center of their words, coated in a thick liquid that turns my stomach with a sour stench._

"Sister Alice, _" they speak, "_ you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls. _"_

 _The voices repeat these words again and again. Each time they do, I feel an energy grow around me..._

* * *

…power I don't have in the asylum. I open my eyes, and find myself slumped against the same wall. The chanting man is no longer there.

A cold hand touches my shoulder. I look over, and stare at a glinting clockwork hand. The metal is polished to a bright sheen, acting as the left arm to another strange version of Alice. This one looks like a Mad Hatter-version of Alice.

"Get up, will you," she says in the Mad Hatter's voice. "This isn't the time for tea, strange as that may be."

She offers me her right arm, which is made of regular human flesh. I grab it, and she pulls me up with a quick burst of strength. Steam _hisses_ out from her left leg, as well. I look her over as she brushes some dirt off my tattered robe.

She wears a white jacket with black straps that loop around the arms and chest, and a skirt of the same color with the 'Mercury' symbol. Her stockings are the same green as the Hatter's skin, and she has the same black boots as she had in the Domain. A white glove covers her human hand. She also wears a smaller version of the Hatter's black-and-white checkered top hat. The hat shows the symbol for 'Saturn', matter taking over the mind.

Her face, like Rabbit-Alice before her, looks familiar to Alice's. Her black hair is cut to a short crop that reaches her ears. Her skin is the same pale tone, but it shimmers in the light. Her eyes are colored copper, with tiny gears inside them. The gears actually tick every second. I swear she's more machine than human.

"Like what you see?" she asks with a quick giggle. I step back against the wall as she twirls around to show me her backside.

'Hollow Yves' is still a bow, but the skull is now a black glass surrounded by bronze, the ribbons now black leather straps. She places her metal hand on her hip, and shoots me a glance over her shoulder. She grins with obvious pleasure, and spins back around to face me.

"You aren't the first person to stare over work as elegant as mine," she states as she cups her hands over her chest. "Machinery has its own natural look. But, I've joined it with flesh to make something greater than either part. I am Hattress, magnum opus of the Domain. Behold my beauty!"

'Hattress' gives a quick flourish that leads to an elegant pose. Her metal hand rests against her hip, while her human hand stretches towards an unseen object. She balances on her toes, and gives me a grin that says, "I know how sexy I look."

The red-haired woman from the Mangled Mermaid comes back to me. This Alice looks better than her, even if she is just as flirtatious.

'Hattress' breaks her pose as a new aroma hits my nostrils. It smells like flesh, which makes my stomach rumble. Hattress sniffs it a few times, and then taps a metal finger against her chin in thought.

"Best check this smell out," she concludes. "It's probably something new, and I do so enjoy learning new things. This asylum could use a good dose of something new!"

She grabs me with her metal arm, and drags me along her. I stumble as best I can, and hear small _clicks_ from Hattress's feet with each step she makes. She moves efficiently, without any wasted momentum, just like a machine would.

What's going to happen now?

* * *

We step between two open metal doors with circular windows. It's a big room with several benches and tables lined up in rows and columns. The 'decayed state' shows the furniture covered with mold and insects; the 'bloody state' has the words 'EATEN' and 'FEAST' scrawled in blood, and human body parts, on the walls.

"The cafeteria!" 'Hattress' claps her hands together in glee as I see a few people sit at the benches with trays of identical food slops. "This is a great place to start. Who knows what the chefs use to feed these people? It could result in knockouts, poisonings, or even spontaneous combustion! The possibilities are endless!"

A loud, "Oh, God! Not them!" turns my focus towards a thin boy at one of the tables. He looks a little older than the children at Houndsditch. He stares at his food, horrified at something inside the slop. Some of that slop is around his mouth. He falls back off his seat before I make a move, and he scoots rapidly away from the table without getting up.

"Maggots," he screams. "Maggots are in the food! Now, they're inside me! They'll eat me alive! It's just like I saw! Someone help me!"

No one moves to help him, even as his eyes roll back in his head. Blood comes out of his nose, and he writhes on the floor.

"Oh, this will be fun," 'Hattress' whispers to me. "A failed result, about to expire. The doctors will talk about this one for years, I'm sure of it!"

I just feel scared. The boy looks worse with each second. His skin quickly turns red, and he foams at the mouth. His head bulges and grows to an obscene size. Then, to my disgusted horror, he explodes.

His blood and body parts fly across the cafeteria. An older woman gets drenched in the stuff, and she clutches her chest. Slop falls from her mouth as she howls in agony, and then _she_ explodes! A third man scratches his eyes after blood flies onto them, and _he_ explodes, too.

This process of explosion, and agony, repeats itself over and over. I can't do a thing to stop it.

"Hahaha!" 'Hattress' laughs like she's actually enjoying this. "Such chaos! Such creativity! I love it, I love it all!"

She spreads her arms wide at all this death. Not a drop of blood, or a single organ, gets on her. I choke out a cry, and shut my eyes tight. I feel like I should do something to save them, but can't. Why do I have to experience this?

My eyes burn as a circle filled with short lines that cross over each other carves itself into my memory. My eyes fly open, and that same circle is carved in green fire on the cafeteria walls. I know that circle…

* * *

… _but I can't stop to ask questions. The ritual's already begun. We can't to go back. We can only go forward, and pray that we succeed._

 _The chanting continues: "_ Sister Alice, you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls. _"_

 _The unknown energy blends into the air. Every breath I take sounds like multiple breaths at once. I want to accept it, but I don't. The energy flows from the circle, which I don't question. None of the chanters question it, either._

 _Something rumbles in the distance. I close my eyes again as the energy grows warm. It flows over me but not into me…_

* * *

…which I am grateful to find out when I regain my senses, outside of that crazed cafeteria. What do these sights, and sounds, mean?

An answer comes quickly; they're more memories of my past. Why else would they slide into my current thoughts so easily? Why would I see them in this asylum, if they weren't already in my mind?

Someone pulls me up to my feet, and then shoves me against the wall. I hiss as my back and shoulders ache from the force. The light here is dim, but I see red-and-white clothing in front of me. I imagine my eyes are glowing green in the darkness.

"Focus," this mysterious person says in the voice of the White King. "Follow. Quietly."

I obey without question; anything is better than what I just went through. I stumble behind them, and they move at a steady pace through the darkness. They wait for me to catch up every so often, which is nice.

Minutes pass, and the darkness doesn't change. The halls are quiet, save for my feet plodding along against the _clacks_ of whatever shoes this person wears. The near silence doesn't calm me down. Is something going to jump at out at us? Is this person guiding me going to suddenly attack me?

The person stops in front of another metal door. White light flickers through its window, a sliver against the darkness around me. The person shoves the door open, and I gasp as white fire leaps out towards us. It covers my body, but doesn't burn my skin. Actually, they are cold. Not ice-cold, but cold enough to not be comfortable.

The mysterious person orders me to, "Stay close," as they pull me through the fire.

I step into a padded room, larger than the one I woke up in. The white fire covers everything here, including a few people resting on the ground, or standing against walls. A pile of beds and cabinets are toppled over, and block our path to the exit. There's no way around them.

Now that there's a good amount of light, I can see who this mysterious person is. Not so surprisingly, it's another version of Alice. This one doesn't seem so changed as the other two.

This one wears a red-and-white bodice, skirt, boots, shoulder guards, and gauntlets, all in the forms of different chess pieces. The skirt is shaped like a piece's lower half, the boots like pawns, the bodice like a rook, the shoulder guards like knights, and the gauntlets like bishops. Her stockings have red and white stripes that balance each other out.

This Alice's face is the same as her usual self, but her eyes are now teal. Her expression stays focused as she looks at the obstacle before us. She eventually walks up to where two huge cabinets rest against each other. My eyes widen as she shoves the cabinets apart with ease, and with just her hands. There's now a clear path, straight through to another door.

"Go," she says as she points to me, and then the path, "I'll follow."

I blink, and then stumble over to where she wants me.

"Wait," she says before I move into the path. "Come here, first."

I move over as she stares at me without blinking. Then, without any warning, she grabs the device around my mouth and rips it clean off. I scream as bits of my mouth and cheek come off with the device, and blood instantly spills out onto the burning ground. The new Alice shakes her head at me before she throws the device to the floor.

"Stupid manacle," she says to the device. "You had no real purpose." She then turns to me and says, "This is your only time to talk."

"Ooo arr yuu?" I ask, trying to say 'Who are you' through sorely-aching mouth and gums.

"The first was 'Late But Lucky'," she states, apparently understanding me. "The second was 'Hattress'. I am the third, 'Checkmate'. That is all you need to know."

She then pushes me towards the path, and I stumble through it as best I can. 'Checkmate' walks at a steady pace behind me, and keeps pushing me when I slow down. The cabinets and benches around us don't fall on top of our heads, and the fire crackles in the air without spreading. We reach another door, which 'Checkmate' opens for me.

* * *

I step out into more dark corridors, in the 'decayed state'. It takes several seconds for my eyes to adjust, and I bump into some things as I walk. 'Checkmate' doesn't say a word, but she continues to push me forward.

Reality shifts to the 'bloody state'. The walls now have large arrows carved in blood that flow both ways. I stop to look at them, but 'Checkmate' shoves me away. I look back at her in a flash of anger, but she doesn't slow down.

As we reach a sharp corner, a female voice shouts, "Get back here, you rascal!" A second later, a young girl with glowing blue hair, and wearing a white robe like mine, races around the corner.

'Checkmate' shoves me against the wall before the girl runs into me. She runs past me, her face masked in fear. Then, a large woman in a nurse's uniform charges into view. Her hands are long claws, her skin clean-white. Her face has no eyes, or mouth.

The woman turns to me, and draws back for a moment. Then, she slowly walks towards me. She growls, her cheeks moving like she is saying words.

"Stay back," 'Checkmate' commands to the woman, or maybe me, as she steps around me. "You've caused enough corruption today."

The woman snarls at 'Checkmate', and then leaps at us. 'Checkmate' slams her shoulder guard into the woman's chest to block her. She then grabs the woman's large breasts, hoists her up, and throws her into the other wall. Her impact causes cracks along the stone.

"Run," she shouts at me as the faceless woman starts to get up, "I've done my part! Go find her!"

I freeze up for a moment, and then sprint around the corner. The woman howls at my apparent escape…

* * *

… _as the wind roars in my ears and chills me to the bone. I feel weak against this power, unable to stop it. It lashes against my body in whipping strikes._

"Sister Alice, _" the figures chant once again, "_ you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls. _"_

 _The wind throws their voices around like toys, the words mixing up. We can't have the words be mixed up. If the ritual goes wrong, everything I and these chanters have worked for will be much harder to complete._

 _Blood drips down my nose as I feel the circle beneath me grow a bit warmer…_

* * *

…but my feet only touch the cold floors of the asylum as I run. Hallway after hallway all look the same; am I going in circles?

I slow down as my legs start to ache, and soon rest against a wall to catch my breath. Reality shifts to the 'decayed state', and I cough something into my hands. My jaw aches as I look at my hands, now covered in blood and mucus.

I twist my jaw slowly as I start to walk again. I also trail my tongue over my teeth to wash away the bad taste in my mouth. I wipe my hands on the first object I can find that looks clean; an old strip of white fabric on the floor.

Two shifts of reality go by before something new appears. The 'decayed state' shows black smoke as it rises from the gaps of another metal door. The smoke makes my lungs and eyes burn, so I crouch down. When I touch the door, it feels hot. I draw back as I picture the room beyond on fire. I don't want to get burned alive.

" _Silly boy,_ " I hear Caterpillar say from the ceiling, " _A_ _lways look before you leap. Your senses can deceive you; don't trust them._ "

I look up into the smoke as it parts, and a winged woman descends from the darkness. Reality shifts to the 'bloody state', and the smoke is now trails of blood that fly around another version of Alice. This one floats with Caterpillar's wings, which flap wildly as she lands. Two curling green antennae on her head twitch as the blood trail passes over them.

This Alice wears a green dress, spiraled like Caterpillar's skin. White fur spreads around her bust and waist. Four small insect legs stick out of her midriff. Green gloves, with fur around the edges, cover her hands. A small furry red hat sits beside her antennae. Black-and-white striped tights cover her legs, and curl around her toes. A pendant with the 'Omega' symbol rests around her neck by a string of white fur.

Alice's eyes look dark black at first, but a closer look reveals her pupils are extremely dilated. She looks at me with the expression on Caterpillar's simulacrum; disinterest in the outside world.

" _I am the fourth,_ " she exclaims, " _Caterpillar. I need no fancy names to prove my worth, just as you don't need to jump into danger to prove your strength. Has my training taught you nothing?_ "

My jaw still hurts too much to form a coherent answer. 'Caterpillar' struts past me, and places her hands along the wall. Her backside doesn't have any version of the 'Hollow Yves' skull. She pulls at something, and a new door opens up beside the smoking door. How did I not see it before?

" _You see,_ " she states as she gestures to a dark passageway beyond the new door, " _if you look closely enough, and trust in your instincts, you'll find what you're looking for._ "

She beckons me over, and I follow her into the darkness. We wind up in a clean, white room with no trace of fire. Instead, cabinets, bottles, and sharp instruments surround a clean white bed with white sheets. A young boy who looks just like me rests on the bed.

His green eyes twitch in panic as a faceless man in a white coat, with clawed fingers, points a needle at his face. I can't say a word as the man takes a hammer from his coat pocket, and slams the needle right into the boy's eye. The boy thrashes with a loud cry as bright-red blood trails down his cheek. I turn away, but gloved hands grip my face and force it back.

" _You need to see this,_ " 'Caterpillar' states, her voice like the Wasp's buzzing. " _This time has already passed, but history repeats itself. Pain is relative to learning. Remember your own pain, and you'll remember what you once did wrong._ "

My eyes burn as I shut them, try to block out this sight…

* * *

… _but I can't block the heat that now flows through me without my consent. The circle beneath me changes from a bright green, to a blinding white. I shut my eyes, but that doesn't help._

"Sister Alice, _" the chanters say once again, "_ you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls! _"_

 _They grow more insistent now, but I don't open my eyes to make sure. We've worked so hard for this ritual; we can't let it all go to waste!_

 _Then, a roar breaks through the chanting…_

* * *

…a roar that I let out in anger at the asylum as a whole. I want to break my head apart, so that these memories can leave me alone. Why do I have to take all this pain to learn my past?

Silence is my answer. I eventually turn, and continue to walk. Reality is in the 'decayed state', the shadows thick. They give me no comfort as I turn corner after corner in this maze of madness.

Suddenly, a woman in a long white robe steps into view. The robe trails behind her, and does nothing to cover her extremely-thin body from my sight. Her face is frozen in pain, and a long scar trails down one side of her shaved head. The scar pulses open with each step she takes; each step releases a burst of multicolored fire into the air. Her eyes are pools of white, empty and infinite.

Reality shifts to the 'bloody state' as a nearby pipe on the wall bursts open to spill a beating mass of flesh onto the floor. This mass quickly grows arms, legs, and a head as it stands up by the robed woman. Multiple mouths along the mass's body hiss and click to the woman. She stops in her tracks, and listens.

The woman frowns as the whispers grow louder. Her mouth twists into a snarl, and black blood drips from between her lips. She then turns around as one of the mass's hands wraps around her shoulder. Her hair rises as I feel a crackle of energy flow through the air. My own hair tingles as the woman walks back down the path, but the fleshy mass stays put.

I blink, and the mass grows a face; Alice's face. Its body turns feminine, but it doesn't sprout any clothes. An eye grows above her right breast, teeth sprout where a skirt would be, and blood seeps down her feet and legs like pants. Her hair remains clean of blood or grime. Her eyes are the same white as the walls here, with tiny black pupils.

She chuckles as she looks me over, her smile too happy to be normal. Then, she speaks in the Red Queen's voice: " _You look like shit, as you should be._ "

"You…" I mutter as I raise a shaking finger at this flesh-covered Alice. "Who… are you?"

" _I am the fifth,_ " she answers as her mouths mutter strange phrases over each other, " _Fleshmaiden. I am human rage taken form. I hear the anger that constantly beats in our hearts. I smell the cold fear everyone has against everyone else. I taste the arousal of power, ambrosia to all who have it. I touch the human body, cradling it for my own use. I see the side of us we keep hidden to protect our foolish reputations. In short,_ " she finishes as she clenches a fist and slams it against her pulsing chest, " _I am the true Alice Liddel._ "

"No," I slowly reply as I step towards her, "you are not Alice. You are a monster."

My jaw hurts from so many words, but I feel some satisfaction when 'Fleshmaiden' frowns at hearing what I say.

" _You still call me 'monster'? After all you've seen, felt, and said?_ " She grabs my bound arm and yanks me up to her face. " _Then, you know nothing! You are useless!_ "

She holds me in place for a moment, and then throws me to the side. She whirls around, and strides down the path. I follow a few steps behind her, and see 'Hollow Yves' is replaced with another eye between two strings of flesh.

* * *

We pass by another door, and 'Fleshmaiden' stops to pull it open. She then shoots a long tongue out of her arm at me. The tongue wraps around me, and drags me to her. She throws me inside the room with no warning. I land on my bound arms with a moan. This room is white as the last one, and I see a pair of high-heeled shoes right by me. I don't want to look up; I've seen too much weird shit already.

Claws dig into my neck, pull me up to my feet. 'Fleshmaiden' points to what's in the center of the room. The same boy who had his eye stabbed through with a hammer is strapped down to a metal chair. Wires stretch from the boy's body to a large box that a faceless nurse operates.

"You've been daydreaming for too long, boy," she says despite not having a mouth. "Talk of warriors, monks, and shrines; hogwash! A good current of reality will get you back on track."

She then flips the switch, and the boy screams as electricity crackles across his body. His skin bubbles and burns as tears stream down his face—my face.

" _Your flesh is weak,_ " 'Fleshmaiden' says as the electrocution continues before my eyes. " _You think you're strong, but that is a false image your mind has sculpted in a dream. You really won't be strong until you accept your anger!_ "

No, I don't want to see this. I don't want to believe this. This is wrong!

* * *

"Sister Alice, you make us whole. Come to us and save our souls! _"_

 _The roar sounds out again. Then, one of the chanters screams as they are pulled out of the ring. I turn towards where they were, and stare at a large creature made of tar and muscle as it pounds the chanter into a pulp._

 _Before I can make a move, the circle bursts apart with white lightning. My body turns into a conductor for its energy._

 _All I can do is scream as my body burns away. All the chanters can do is scream as they get dragged to the ground by more of these tar creatures._

 _I can't save them…_

* * *

…which makes me sob as I come back to the asylum. I stand with my back against a wall in the 'decayed state'. Blood trails from my nose, joining tears from my eyes. I have so many questions that I can't answer.

Are those tar creatures Ruin, or some other monster? Who are the chanters? What is the outcome of the ritual? Did it succeed? I want to know!

I suddenly realize I'm being watched. I look up, and a pair of yellow eyes glow from the blackness at the other wall. Then, a fanged mouth grins in a perfect mimic of the Cheshire Cat. But, it can't be the Cat, just like 'Fleshmaiden' isn't the Red Queen. How could they be here?

"Ah, Kyle," the mouth says, sadly, in the Cat's voice, "I'm not surprised you would eventually break. In fact, you're on the edge of losing it all right now. You just don't want to accept it."

A woman shaped like Alice and the Cheshire Cat fused together walks up to me. A clawed hand with prickly gray fur brushes my cheek. Pierced ears along this Alice's head twitch as a _crash_ comes from nearby. Her eyes don't leave mine as a silver ring on one of the ears jingles. It's too dark for me to see her clearly, but I don't _want_ to see anything weird anymore.

Unfortunately, reality shifts to the 'bloody state' at that moment. Cheshire-Alice, or maybe just 'Cheshire', flattens her ears against the change, and presses her body against mine. I look down at her chest, and see the 'Omega' emblem burned into her skin. Her fur has black stripes, and her rib cage shows through the simple black dress that covers her upper body. The dress has sprinkles of blood along the edge, with the bottom being a ring of torn flesh.

'Cheshire', pulls back when nothing new comes at us. She then notes where my eyes were, and rubs a claw along my cheek. She continues to grin, and a glint in her eyes tells me she knows what I saw. Something wraps around my legs at the same time; I look down, and see a thin cat's tail extend from this Alice's buttocks.

"Be careful with what you discover," she says with a light purr as she nuzzles her forehead against mine. "The price of discovering things is greater than you expect. _She's_ learned that the hard way."

She twitches her ears again, and I hear footsteps a few moments later. 'Cheshire' vanishes in a puff of smoke as a young woman with shaved head and green eyes stumbles around the corner. It's Alice; the actual Alice, this time. She looks so battered and broken that I can hardly believe it's her.

I call out to her, and she doesn't answer. Her eyes are vacant of any expression as she stumbles past me towards a door with the words 'EXIT' above it. I follow her to the door, and it opens for us both.

We step into the light, and enter some kind of reception area. Chairs are open for people to sit, but the front desk has no one there to greet people. Alice moves to a chair and sits down; the moment she does, she instantly freezes up. I wave my hand in front of her face, but there's no response. She seems lost in her own memories, and I can't get her out.

My legs remind me of their pain, and I amble over to a nearby chair. When I take a seat, everything around me goes black, even Alice. I try to get up, but my bottom is stuck fast.

* * *

"No, no, no," 'Late But Lucky' says as she walks into view with her pocket watch open, "there's no time to check on her. You've got your own problems to deal with, and they need to be dealt with right now!"

She looks at me like I'm supposed to say something, but I can't figure out what. After a moment, she throws up her hands and runs away, her white tail bobbing furiously.

"Oh, that Rabbit," 'Hattress' says as her metal arm wraps around my shoulder. "She's always so desperate for attention, she'll ask anyone for the time."

I look to my right and see 'Hattress' kneeling there, her face at level with mine. She gives me a wink, and then steps in front of me with a quick spin. I feel like she's about to dance from the way she shakes her hips and taps her feet.

"Just embrace the change," she tells me. "We're all mad, here, though some of us would like to think otherwise. Let yourself go, and you'll see things the way they really are. Creativity is at the edge of your fingertips, so go out and grab it by the balls!"

'Hattress' reaches for my neck with her metal arm, but 'Checkmate' knocks her aside by slamming her shoulder-guard into 'Hattress's' head. The red-and-white Alice then picks 'Hattress' up, and throws her into the darkness beyond. I don't hear the mechanical Alice's body hit the ground, or even scream as she flies into the shadows.

"Creativity does not stem from madness," 'Checkmate' explains as she brushes her hands clean of 'Hattress's' body. She then crosses her hands over her chest as she looks me over. She frowns with narrowed eyes.

"You are broken," she states. "But, order alone can't fix your pain. I've shown you what strength can do, but you need to know how to use it. You haven't been doing that very much."

" _Of course he hasn't,_ " 'Caterpillar' speaks out as she flaps into view beside 'Checkmate'. " _How can he do something well if he doesn't know the first thing about it? Honestly, he seems a lost cause for all the effort we've put into his growth._ "

"You can't expect instant results every time," 'Checkmate' counters with a frown at 'Caterpillar'. "A warrior learns his skills from countless battles, not one huge confrontation."

" _Of course, of course,_ " the winged Alice says as her antennae wiggle wildly for a moment. " _But, when will he get the chance for another battle, or confrontation, after all is said and done? If a warrior grows soft, what good is he in protecting others?_ "

A scream from the darkness makes the two women draw back from each other. 'Fleshmaiden' storms into view, her many mouths open in silent cries. Her white eyes are alight with a fire all their own, and a river of blood flows from beneath her fleshy dress to the floor.

" _You're both wrong,_ " she yells as she points fingers at the two other Alice's. " _True strength comes from what you feel in your heart, not in how many ways you can swing a stick! Battles make people embrace their baser instincts, drives them to survive against harsh conditions. There's just you, and the enemy, and one of you will die by the other's hand. That's all you need!_ "

'Checkmate' rolls her eyes at this, while 'Caterpillar' turns her head away with a sharp flap of her wings. 'Fleshmaiden' turns to me, but I don't want to contribute to this argument. This asylum has made me question how strong I really am, so what could I say to defend myself?

" _Worthless wretch,_ " 'Fleshmaiden' screams at me. " _What are you afraid of? Get mad, damn it! Rip the world asunder, and watch it fucking burn!_ "

She leaps towards me with bared claws, but 'Checkmate' and 'Caterpillar' hold her back from mauling me apart. They drag their flesh-covered counterpart into the darkness, kicking and screaming.

Silence falls, but the darkness doesn't get any close to me. I still can't get out of the seat, so I wait for whatever will happen next.

A bony gray tail pops up from beneath the chair. It wags around for a moment, and then disappears from sight. A second later, two clawed hands with prickly fur dig into my shoulders as whiskers scratch my cheek.

"You're almost there," 'Cheshire' whispers into my ear. "You just need one final push. But, that's always the hardest part. We Alices are all correct, in our own way, but we can't work together on fixing our common problem. We're all too independent of each other. You can't let that happen with Alice. The _real_ Alice."

"Let your need guide you," she finishes as her furry hands drape over my eyes. "Resist the urge to be independent. Pursue your memories, and you may yet find your answers."

With that, I fall into thin air…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. Where has Kyle gone, now that he's rejoined with Alice? Stay tuned to find out! I think it won't be as mad as this chapter was.**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	36. My Children, My Dolls, My Friends

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story. At the time of this chapter's posting, the story has a bit over 3500 views. I know that's not very special in terms of numbers, but I'm glad that everyone who has read it so far has enjoyed some part of it.**

 **Oh, and to 'el marcos', your comment on the previous chapter does make sense. With all those other Alice's I added in, I guess it would qualify as some kind of harem. But, how would the REAL Alice feel about that? (smirk)**

 **Alright, I'll shut up. We're getting into the last big area of the official game, anyway, and there's going to be something big explained here. Plus, there's going to be the introduction of a foe not in the final game.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not included in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom content they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The darkness fades to reveal a dim yellow light. I stand upright, my former bonds gone. I wear my London garb, but I don't recall changing clothes. Those aren't important, though; what matters is that I'm out of that asylum.

My mouth and jaw feel fine, and my legs are at their normal strength. But, the asylum's hallucinations stick to me like dried flesh. How Alice survived in a place like that for ten years of her life, I will never understand.

Speaking of Alice, she pops into view as I walk towards the light. She looks perfectly normal in her London garb, like she wasn't ever in the asylum. We look at each other without a word, and then walk towards the light together. I don't feel the urge to speak, and I don't think she wants to hear anyone's voice right now.

The darkness turns misty-white as we get closer. I look down at our feet and see countless cobblestones arranged in a twisted pattern. We soon reach the source of the light; a single metal lamppost that shines against a sea of white fog.

This fog wraps around everything in sight, blocking out any good paths. I glance around with a hollow feeling in my gut. This place feels empty, despite being so full of mist. Eventually, Alice picks a direction and starts walking. I follow close behind her.

Alice's pick quickly turns bad as the air grows darker. The fog starts to wrap around my neck, cold fingers needling into my skin. Alice turns back to the lampost with a soundless gasp and her hands at her throat. I stay close as I suspect the darkness is trying to choke us. The bad sensations fade when we get back to the light.

Alice starts to search all over again, and I squint my eyes to help her out. After what feels like only a few minutes, I feel her tap my arm. I turn, and she points over to a very dim light in the distance. It glows the same shade as the lamp we're at, but the shifting mists make this new light hard to see. She looks at me, and I nod to her; I want to go there, too.

We leave the lamppost behind in pursuit of the second light. The fog doesn't choke at us this time, so we must be on the right path. Alice takes the lead, and I stay close behind in case something comes at us from the fog. We don't have our Wonderland weapons here, but we still have to defend ourselves.

The second light source, when we get to it, is a lampost exactly like the first one. Are we going in circles? This would be the third time for me, and that's not a good-

Another tap from Alice on my arm breaks my thought. She points to a dark orange glow through even more fog. We look around again, but there's no other light beyond what we've already seen. So, we move to this orange glow, but it doesn't get any closer to us. In fact, we first reach a third identical lamppost, which makes Alice walk a bit faster.

Something else crawls into view as we are about to leave the third lamppost. It's a young girl wearing a thin white robe. Her legs are gone, and blood trails behind her. She reaches out to us with shaking hands, and her red eyes sparkle in the light. A deep scar with multiple stitches runs across her face, a face I actually recognize.

I know this girl. Her name is on the tip of my tongue, but I dare not say it for fear of breaking down into a sobbing fit. This girl is a friend, one of many friends from my past. But, when and where did I become friends with them?

"Help, Alice," the girl cries out with a raspy voice. "We need your help! Don't desert us, again! Don't ignore us!"

Alice stoops down to the child and clasps her hand, while I just hang by the lamppost. I don't want to interfere with this conversation. I don't trust myself to not say something stupid right now.

"Why do you suffer," Alice asks the girl, unfazed by her physical state. "The Queen's tyranny is just a memory. She has no power over you, does she?" I shiver at the thought of the Red Queen still holding power, even the weakened state Alice had left her in when she took her down the first time.

"Our enemies come and go," the girl replies as she holds Alice's hand in hers, "but now a new evil reigns, and this fiend's malevolence has eclipsed the conquered Queen's!"

Her eyes roll back into her head as she violently shudders, and then collapses onto the ground. A loud _spurt_ turns my gaze to a pile of internal organs now spilled out onto the cobblestones. Alice clutches the girl's hand and sobs quietly for a moment.

I look closely at the girl's pained face. Should I know who these children are? Were they more subjects of the Mad Hatter, like I was, and I was one of the lucky ones who escaped? But, this girl said a 'new evil' reigns in Wonderland; one stronger than even the Queen. Was this what the Queen meant when she said, "the whole truth you claim to see still eludes you"?

Alice suddenly gets up from the child's corpse, clenches her fists, and walks toward the darker-orange light without looking back. I guess the child's death hurt her more than I first thought. Maybe Alice has encountered these children before now, during a previous time in Wonderland? I mull these thoughts over as I walk behind Alice, no closer to getting answers.

When we see what the glow actually is, Alice hisses through her teeth. A two-story house appears from the fog, covered in bright flames that reach high above it. This might be the Liddel family house where Alice's family died, since she's reacting like this. If that's true, then I sympathize with her—she doesn't want to relive this memory. But, there's no other way forward.

The fire and smoke from the Liddel household wash over us before we can reach the front door…

* * *

The air shifts around us, and the fire vanishes. A light-blue sky replaces it, bright like a sunny day. The air feels heavy with some taste I can't quite recognize.

A huge collection of houses surrounds us. Some float in the air via steam vents or propellers, while others rest on top of large wooden poles. The houses have walls and windows of every possible color, with no stable mixes or matches. We stand on a platform made up of several fabric squares of different colors, all stitched together with careful sowing.

"Is this… the Dollhouse?" I mutter this out loud, and then feel confused as to how I knew that.

"Yes," Alice answers from just by me, "it is. And we were just in Hyde Park, judging by how the lamposts looked. How do you know this place, Kyle?"

"I don't," I say as I turn to face Alice. "I just… said the name on instinct." I stop talking as I see Alice's clothing has changed once again. Her new look is very colorful, like the houses around us.

Her dress is a bright pink with a few very large buttons, her skirt a darker pink-and-black. Her left sleeve has a tear with some stuffing popping out. The skirt has a decorative border around the edge, and pink leggings are underneath that. Her hands have teal-and-pink striped gloves, and 'Hollow Yves' is replaced by a scratched white doll girl's head with blushed cheeks and a pink ribbon.

I spot two new astrological symbols along the corners of the dress. I point to them, and Alice quickly looks them over before she gives her explanation: "The one on the left is Mars, symbol of lust and war. I'm not sure what that means right now. The one on the right is Ceres, a goddess of Roman myth who ruled over harvesting crops. Again, I'm not sure how that fits."

She then looks at me and exclaims, "Goodness, what's happened to _you_?"

I blink for a moment before I realize that something must be wrong with me. I quickly look over myself. A white robe with tattered edges covers my body, and I lack any kind of footwear. What Alice seems more concerned about is how my actual _body_ looks.

My hands are a mess; the skin is gnawed off, like the Cheshire Cat decided to eat my flesh as a snack. Flakes of muscle hang off the bone, but I can move the fingers just fine. I rub my skeletal hands along my head and feel my hair has been shaved thin. A pat along my face doesn't detect anything different there. Any more changes beyond this would only increase my problems.

Just to make sure that my hands aren't limiting my abilities, I quickly summon each weapon and hold it for a second before dismissing it. The Ice Wand feels a bit colder, and the Fire Whip a bit hotter, as they touch my bare bones, but that's all. Logically, this wouldn't work, but Wonderland doesn't hold logic very high in the order of things.

To finish my test, I teleport using my mist, and reform just fine a small distance away. My powers don't feel out of control here, which is a great comfort.

"I think that's the most drastic change I've seen in either of us yet," Alice states as she looks me over again. "I'd say you should stop and figure this out. But, time isn't on our side."

"I feel fine, Alice," I answer with a clenched fist. "I want to find out what's really behind all this, and recover my memories in the process."

"Speaking of recovery," Alice begins as she crosses her arms over her chest, "I really want to know how you got that flaming whip into your possession. Where did you even find it?"

"Queensland," I begin as I look around us, "It's a bit of a long story. Do we have time to tell it?" The back of my neck itches; something's not right with this place. I fear the longer we leave our big problem alone, the worse it will get.

"We don't need to give every detail," Alice says in agreement, "but I think we'll both benefit from a chance to talk."

I look around one last time, and then shrug my shoulders. Alice kicks things off by talking about what she saw in Queensland.

* * *

Alice had to deal with the Executioner every so often on her journey, but she got to the garden maze through a series of changing platforms and chess puzzles. I had fought her about midway through that journey, and she used the fact I had been brainwashed as an extra effort to keep moving on. She uncovered more memories from her family as well; specifically, the cause of that terrible fire.

Apparently, someone had broken into the Liddel house late at night, killed or incapacitated Lizzie, and covered up a crime by burning the place down. Alice points out that Lizzie was dead in her room, but she could have jumped out of the window. In addition, the door to her room had been locked, and Lizzie hated locked doors. Alice has no idea who this 'someone' is, but she is amazed that someone would think arson is a good cover-up.

In the meantime, Alice has now upgraded her weapons to their maximum state. The Vorpal Blade was already at its most powerful, but now her other items are just as strong. It seems the surplus of teeth from our giant-sized assault was worth the effort. Her obsessive effort to collect every possible tooth has resulted in this new level of power, and each weapon looks very different.

The Hobby Horse is now a silver 'unicorn', because of the horn on its head. Its eyes and nose give a golden glow, the weight at the back end sharp and pointed like a diamond. The rein is made of white leather and chains, and the mane looks more wild than before. I keep back as I remember this weapon might be alive, and I don't want to make it, or its wielder, angry.

The Pepper Grinder is now a fat 'warthog' made of black and silver metal. The body now has four stubby legs, and the crank looks like a pig's tail. The eyes and mouth glow a firey shade of red and orange, and its lower jaw has two tusks sticking out. Its nose has a silver ring piece through its 'nostrils', and it gives a few snorts as Alice slowly cranks the tail around. Yet again, the Duchess's talents really pay off.

The Teapot Cannon is now a 'gargoyle' with a red and gold clock face. The lid has two horns, and the spout has sharp teeth like a mouth. Red steam flow from the spout, and it bubbles with a growl when Alice charges a test shot. She fires it into the far distance, and it leaves a trail of red steam for a moment. I see the grenade for a moment in the air; it has golden spikes. Considering the original cannon was black metal, this upgrade looks much more fearsome.

When she's done, I start with what happened when we were separated by the Queen. I leave out as much graphic detail as I can, because I don't want to get sick by reliving those incidents. It takes me a few tries to properly describe the visions I had while the Queen brainwashed me.

"She used your desire to help me against you," Alice repeats after I tell her the reason. "That bloody big head is either very smart, or incredibly lucky, to have found that out."

"I'd say the former," I note. "But, she also discarded me after the battle because she thought I had no further worth to her."

"Yes, I heard that," Alice states with a nod. "I'd say she was too quick to judge you based on your strengths alone, and not your weaknesses. Now, what happened after that?"

"After that…" I have to think for a moment to correctly phrase the conversations the Queen and I had with each other. I also mention how I found the Fire Whip, and let Alice examine it. She is impressed as she rubs a hand quickly along the handle and rope. However, when she holds the whip herself, it doesn't light up for her. She isn't upset by this as she hands it back.

By some unseen agreement, neither of us talk about what we saw in the asylum. Alice says that she saw me at the end, just like I did with her, and I think she shares my unspoken wish to not repeat what we experienced there. It was too horrifying a place for a newcomer like me, and probably brought back a lot of bad memories for her.

We end our talk after that, and move along the path set before us.

* * *

Alice twirls onto a series of steam vents that have very small houses built around themselves. These houses have eyes that follow our every move, which reminds me too much of Queensland. We quickly fly, or float, over them to a purple wooden platform held up by a long pole.

A Pressure Pad rests here. I stand on it, and some nearby wooden platforms rise to a higher level with a loud _creak_. I can't get to them from here, but I _can_ get to a nearby spinning wooden pole with some platforms on its sides. I have to time my jump correctly, of course.

I step off the Pad, and the two raised platforms lower back to their original positions. I motion for Alice to go ahead, but she instead steps on the Pad and motions for _me_ to go ahead of her. I blink, but move as she asks without question. I leap over to the spinning pole, wait for one full revolution, and then leap onto the platforms. From there, it's just two small jumps to get to a much larger wooden space beside a colorful house.

I hear the _tick-tick-tick_ of a Clockwork Bomb as I turn around to Alice. She's in the midst of her own run. She gets to the pole, waits for the platform she's on to spin around… and then stays on the platform. The Bomb explodes, and the raised platforms drop back down from where I stand. Alice then jumps down to the lowered platforms, and then off to _another_ platform on that level that I didn't see before. I should pay more attention to my surroundings!

Alice shouts, "Stay there!" to me as she jumps across a path of smaller platforms that lead all the way back to where we started. She gets a bunch of teeth along the way, which must be she intentionally delayed her jump. But, why does she want more teeth, if she's already upgraded her weapons to the best they can be?

I ask her this very question when she repeats the procedure, and goes through with it this time. Her answer is quick as she brushes some dust off her dress; "I just want to build a tooth collection for later. Is that a bad thing to do?" I shrug it off as we enter the nearby house. There's a large wooden block in the wall with the letter 'A' by the door.

The inner walls of the house are a simple brown, with patterns of black diamonds. Sunlight streams in from several windows and brightens up the place. That brightness is marred a bit by the sight of some mangled plastic arms and legs in one corner.

"Doll parts," Alice realizes out loud. "Why have they been discarded?" Neither of us have an answer for this, so we just ignore it and take a toadstool spring to an upper level. The house's slanted roof is above us, and a Dr. Wilson memory rests to one side. Alongside that memory is a large piece of cake with blue frosting.

Alice goes for the memory first. Wilson's voice rings out as he states, " _As beloved toys are to children, children often are to grown-ups: objects of fancy and imagination, and eventually discarded._ " I look to Alice for an answer, but she just stares into space with a frozen expression of confusion. She probably doesn't know what the doctor means, either.

I break the silence by moving over to the cake. The smell is quite good, but it looks a bit dry, like it's been in the sun for far too long and has grown stale. The moment I reach out to touch it, hundreds of small black insects scurry out from inside the treat. I jump back and clutch my hand, but the insects retreat into the woodwork without a second thought.

"Alright, alright," I exclaim as I rub my bony fingers to calm myself down, "I'll let them eat the cake."

Alice chuckles at this, not that I meant to make a joke from it. She then walks over to the cake and slashes it open with the Vorpal Blade. More teeth, and a Rose Petal, fall out, and she instantly absorbs them. She then looks around, and points out a small keyhole-shaped door with a yellow button over it. Since the keyholes we've gone through before have always proven useful, we shrink down and go through it. The door and button vanish through our Shrink Sense, and the tunnel is clean with a hard wooden floor.

We soon reach a split in the tunnel's path, both ways not showing any sign of an exit. I just start walking to the right without a second thought, and Alice comes up from behind me with a firm hiccup. One sharp turn later, we reach the keyhole's exit.

"Mind telling me how you knew that?" Alice asks after we grow back to normal size.

"I didn't, really," I answer, trying to sound honest. "It was instinct, again. I feel like I know how this place works, or _should_ work. Maybe that can help us get to where we need to go faster." Alice hums in apparent agreement. Then again, she could be disagreeing with me internally.

Alice takes the lead as we cross several nearby invisible platforms that float over a wasteland of doll parts and metal bits. Since Alice moves faster across these platforms than me, she waits for me at the next solid space, which turns out to be inside a hole in a bedroom wall. The bed in this room is small enough to fit a child. However, the bed is also soaked in blood, and the clock that hangs nearby has human hands to point out the time.

Considering what I've seen already in other parts of Wonderland, these little things shouldn't be very creepy. But, they are. I guess that won't ever go away.

* * *

A new type of lever is here, a yellow pendulum with an eye on top. The eye follows Alice's movements as she reaches over and pulls the lever to the right. This causes another part of the floor to fold back, with another floor beneath it. We jump down there, and I instantly see a picture of two well-dressed children with huge eyes and numbered cards around their necks. Something about that looks familiar.

As Alice breaks open an abandoned breadbasket, I ask about the teeth once again: "Is the tooth collection thing really necessary? You've got all you needed from Hollow Yves, right?"

"Yves is certainly satisfied," Alice states as she absorbs the basket's contents, "but spare teeth won't hurt a skull that needs them. Besides, I don't like to keep secret things a secret. Unless they're _my_ secrets, of course."

She gives me a smirk, and I roll my eyes as we step back outside through a door frame. A Snout flaps nearby, and Alice peppers it up like so many others. It vanishes as a series of colorful platforms rise up from the pile of bits and parts far below us.

We jump across the platforms to reach another house, this one marked with a 'D' block. The room we walk into has a blood-soaked bed and another lever with attached eye. Alice pulls the lever over, and a piece of the floor neither of us are standing on moves out of sight to reveal a lower floor.

We jump down to find a large book with a yellow cover and the title 'Jabberwock'. The moment I see the title, words spring from my lips in a strange tongue:

" _Twas brillig, and the slithy toves  
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:  
All mimsy were the borogoves,  
And the mome raths outgrabe._

 _Beware the Jabberwock, my son!  
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!  
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun  
The frumious Bandersnatch!_"

I slap my hands over my mouth to shut myself up. Alice looks at me with a raised eyebrow and wide eyes.

"Alright," she then states, "that's too many curious things in a row to leave alone. How do you know the 'Jabberwock' poem? Did you even see that beast when it was alive?"

I shake my head, too confused to try and form words. Alice pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs in annoyance. I don't want her to be angry, but I can't help it when I don't know why this happening. Alice doesn't speak about it further before she shrinks down near another keyhole in the wall. I follow behind her, my mind bouncing around a jumble of mismatched thoughts.

We exit out of the keyhole very quickly. To my silent joy, the Cheshire Cat is waiting for us outside. He rests on top of a large trunk, closed and locked, between two beds with differing colors of covers. His grin is all too familiar, but his eyes seem more distant than before.

"'Seek, and ye shall find', they say," he tells us. "But, they never tell you exactly _what_ you'll find." He then vanishes, leaving us with no good answer. Typical Cheshire Cat behavior, and I'm glad that I can now recognize that.

A wall of gingerbread men, piled on top of each other at random, blocks our way forward. Alice fixes that with the Hobby Horse, which snorts at the sharp smell of gingerbread in the air. The smell is fine for my nose, and I take a deep whiff as Alice goes inside and pulls another lever that's shrouded in darkness.

The eye squints from the sudden light brought to it by our actions, and the side wall flips down to reveal a way outside. A keyhole that's on this side of the wall now leads down through the wall to an unknown location. Alice shrinks down and dives through first, and I follow behind with the hopes we won't meet anything nasty on the other end.

We don't meet any monsters, but I shudder at the sight of a large mirror in this lower room. The words 'SAVE US' are written in blood on the glass, and the mirror stands on a pair of little human legs. If it walks on its own, I'll bash it to pieces.

I keep one eye on the mirror as Alice moves over to a large pile of gingerbread men. She smashes the pile to crumbs with the Horse, and jumps down the revealed path. I quickly follow behind, and land on a grassy hill that spreads out from beneath the house.

* * *

We walk into sunlight, the area dominated by a giant fort made up of several toy blocks and what looks like part of a house. We walk towards it, but are stopped when several Drifting Ruin and one Menacing Ruin rise up to fight us. The battlefield has sets of wooden spikes that block our movement with pointed tips.

Battle is joined. I summon the Fire Whip and snap its burning end at one Drifting when it shows its face. It instantly catches fire as it falls onto some of the spikes. I draw the Whip back as Alice charges towards the Menacing with the Hobby Horse. The next Drifting that reveals itself spits out a spiked Ruin ball before I can strike at it, and I let it hit me so the Whip can burn its sender to a crisp.

The third Drifting stays far back from me, over another set of spikes. I switch to the Ice Wand as I hear the Hobby Horse neigh before the ground shakes from a mild explosion. Alice must be having a field day with her improved toys. I fire an ice bolt at the Drifting, but it floats away before it gets hit. I teleport away from its spiked balls in kind, and end up closer to it than before.

A close-range ice bolt freezes the Drifting up, and it lands to the ground in front of me. I switch back to the Whip, and give it a solid _crack_ at the frozen foe. The Drifting melts away as sparks dance from the strike; the embers catch fire for a moment before they vanish. I spin around as I hear a gurgle from nearby, and end up with a face full of Ruin that clogs up my eyes and nose. I stumble around as I get as much of the tar off me as I can, and I lash the Whip out to where I think the attacker is.

The Whip _snaps_ in the air, and I hear a _crackle_ as it hits something. I wipe away some more Ruin from my eyes to see I cut off the top part of a wooden spike. In the meantime, Alice now faces a Drifting Ruin alongside the Menacing Ruin. She now wields the Vorpal Blade as she slashes over and over into the last of the Menacing's faces. The Ruin growls and glows red as its muscles bubble and bulge, but Alice teleports around its body before it can charge.

I snap the Whip at the Drifting Ruin; it burns and falls down like its dead friends. I then run over to Alice, but she wipes out the Menacing Ruin by ripping the final face out with the Blade. Ruin coats her dress as the creature melts back into the ground, but she has a wild smile on her face. I guess after spending so much time without a chance for combat, it's good for Alice to knock a few heads in.

With all our foes dead, we turn our eyes back to the fort. Its front gate has been lowered down to our level. The fort itself has three towers; two of them have battlements, while the third has a spiked roof. The towers are made of giant blocks with eyes, noses, mouths and tongues drawn on them. Two windows at the front end face out towards us. A white banner hangs over the front gate, displaying the colored words, "FORT RESISTENCE". The fort is damaged in several places, like it's been through a long war.

My head pounds with each step I take towards this place. The fort seems to repair itself before my eyes, even though that shouldn't be possible. I breathe rapidly to try and clear this sight, but the feeling just gets worse.

When we get to the top of the ramp, five children wearing white robes like mine come out of the fort. Some have the tops of their heads cut open to reveal their brains, some have strange devices attached to their faces, and they all have crudely-stitched scars across their skin. The frontmost child, a girl who clutches a tattered teddy bear in one hand and a needle in the other, motions for the rest of the children to stay back. They do so with various mutters, groans, or laughs.

I fall to my knees as my head erupts with more pain than ever before. A sequence of images comes back to me, the final pieces of the puzzle…

* * *

 _I stand with these children, but there are ten of them. I am the oldest by far, but I am no smarter than them. We meet in a small hovel near the Vale of Tears, after the Red Queen is killed. Each of us is guided there by the Cheshire Cat. He says his plan with us is to form a resistance against future threats to Wonderland, should Alice not be able to return. The oldest girl of our group becomes the leader; I am the heavy lifter and brute, due to my larger size._

 _We travel from place to place across Wonderland, always on the lookout for enemies. We avoid Card Guards, clockwork drones, seedy creatures, malignant insects. We come to the Dollhouse area just when the Ruin first begins to appear. At that time, I learn the name of the Ruin's controller; the Dollmaker._

 _We fight against the Ruin with what we can gather from the houses. This is mostly pencil tip-spears, discarded doll part-armor, and eraser nub-shields. My powers over mist aren't trained at this time, so I just punch enemies to death. We move from house to house between the battles, never staying in one spot for long. The Cheshire Cat watches our journey, and even scouts ahead a few times for us, but he never fights with us. He says he, "never gets involved in politics", even though battles aren't really what I'd call 'politics'._

 _I become the group's second-in-command after I viciously kill a Menacing Ruin that tries to ambush us one night. Even with this promotion, the Ruin spreads faster than we can stop it. Many places we think are safe become battlegrounds when we get there. The leader and I spend many nights discussing by candlelight where we'll go next. For an Insane Child, she thinks very rationally when it comes to survival._

 _Eventually, we come to a small hill that overlooks a small valley. There are no enemies here, and we use the blocks, pencil tips, and crayons scattered around to form a permanent base. It's our last line of defense against the Ruin; a fort for our 'resistence'. We hold off attacks from the Ruin as best we can, but they just come at us over and over again._

 _Each time they breach our defense, they take a child away. One by one, our numbers dwindle, until only six of us are left. Then, doll-like abominations join the Ruin in fights, each of them a titan that needs coordinated effort to take down. Our fort is sieged several times, but the invaders only take one child away each time they break through._

 _The Cheshire Cat thinks this is because the Dollmaker wants to crush our morale before he violates our bodies. The leader thinks he just likes to fuck with our heads._

 _In one such siege, I nearly lose both my hands from a swarm of Slithering Ruin. They catch me off guard, and try to eat me alive. The leader saves me, braving the mass of leeches with wild battle cries. My hands turn to thin bones, and my morale in the war becomes just as brittle._

 _It is then that the Cat calls me away for Caterpillar's training. I refuse to go, at first; I don't want anything bad to happen to these children. I only yield when the Cat, and the leader, agree that this is a better long-term option. Even better, my hands are healed the moment I step away from the Dollhouse. The Cat calls me back after years in Wonderland pass by, and he reveals a plan to save everything we care about._

 _The plan is a ritual, found in an old book of arcane magic underneath one of the Dollhouse beds. Its former owner was a time-traveling magician; his name is lost, and most of the spells require components we can't gather in the Dollhouse itself. The ritual is our last hope; it is designed to move someone between worlds, between periods of time. We hope to bring Alice to Wonderland so she can save us._

 _The main requirement is a special circle, a sigil, carved into the ground with specific runes. Then, a group of people must stand around the circle and chant the name of the person to be sent. One person must also stand in the sigil as a focus to what type of being you want brought over. We wouldn't want to bring something that could kill us._

 _We devote what free time we have to construct the sigil, prepare a suitable chant, and choose the person to be the focus. After a few days of debate, I become the majority selection for the focus that will bring Alice, our creator, back to Wonderland. If she returns, everything will be made right again._

 _The ritual takes place at night, inside the fort. The children surround me and chant for 'Sister Alice', the savior of Wonderland, to come and save our souls from the Dollmaker. But, at the ritual's peak, the Ruin storm the fort and break the sigil. The ritual's energies reverse their flow; they pull me away from Wonderland instead of bringing our hope to us._

 _My last thought before the ritual whisks me away is the name of the person we worked so hard to find; Alice Liddel…_

* * *

I understand. I finally understand.

I look to the leader of the Insane Children— _Alicia_ —as she looks down at me. Her mouth is stitched into a smile, but her eyes are pits of sadness. I slowly get up and look at the other four children, all in varying states of mental and physical suffering. Do they still remember me? What would help them remember me?

A thought comes to my head. It'll look idiotic, but it may just pay off.

My knees quiver as I raise a fist to my chest as I remember the words of our battle cry: "Resist! Resist the Dollmaker! Resist for Wonderland!"

The children all look at one another with mutters and squeaks, save Alicia. She just smiles even wider, and then cackles.

"He's back, you dolts," she says with glances to the other children. "Our right-hand dimwit is back!"

At this, the other children all smile as best they can. I race up the gate to the five as tears stream from my eyes, and I kneel down to wrap them all in a big hug.

"Oh, my friends," I sob as the children's tiny hands rub my face and shaved head, "it's been too long. I'm so sorry for not coming back sooner. You don't know how hard it's been."

They all give wordless answers as I carefully squeeze their frail bodies. We're finally reunited, in body and mind.

Eventually, some of the children push against my grip; they want their personal space back. I reluctantly release them and step back down the gate. I wipe away tears with my bony hands, a smile stuck on my face. I don't want to cry, but I feel so damn happy right now that I just might do so.

"You've found your home, haven't you?"

Oh, crap. I forgot Alice was here! She must be so confused about all this!

"Alice," I sputter as I gesture towards my six friends, "Let me introduce you to the Insane Children of Wonderland. My friends, and fellow fighters against the Dollmaker's corruption."

"Introductions aren't necessary," Alice replies with a raised hand, and a calm smile. "I can see your friendship for myself. But, I need to speak with them for a moment."

"P-please do!" I step to the side with a bow. "The floor is yours!"

Alice nods in thanks, and then walks over to Alicia. I move up to the gate and stand with the other five children, but keep my ears focused on what the two women have to say.

"The unstable are more than merely mad," Alicia begins as I shake each other Child's thin hands. "They have other parts. The Dollmaker will deprive them of what remains of their deranged souls! They need care."

"I know their pain," Alice states, "though Kyle seems to understand it more. We would assist, but is sanity required for the job?"

"A limited quantity," Alicia answers after a moment's pause. "You both aren't mad enough to be rejected. You're like them, Alice, in a way. But not them. I should say us, for Kyle and I _are_ them. But you're on your way. The way is clearly marked."

"I believe I know that way," Alice angrily states, "and I'd rather not travel further along it!"

A loud screech breaks the moment. The children panic at the sound, but Alicia quickly takes command with the words, "It's here, you dimwits! Get inside!"

"Wait," I call to Alicia, "what about me? I don't want to leave you again!"

She stops as the other children race into the fort and beckons me over. When I'm next to her, she points to the ground. I lean my head down, and she roughly grabs the top of my robe.

"You unstable idiot," she spits right into my face, "You've already done your part. Now, show us all what all that damn training did to you!"

She then shoves me away and runs inside as fast as her tiny feet can carry her. I get to my feet as the Fort's gate quickly rises back up. Alice comes over to me and places a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't want to lose them again," I state, Alice's touch not calming me down.

"You won't," Alice answers as loud footsteps reach our ears. "We're all fighting for the same goal. Trust me, I know how it feels to meet with someone you thought was lost."

A loud _crash_ from behind us alerts us to a large doll-girl with black eye sockets, and wearing a thin pink dress. She wields half of a scissor in each hand, and she stands twice as tall as us as she skips up to the fort. A moment later, a doll-boy with green eyes wearing a green coat and purple shorts stomps into view. Several nails are hammered into his head, and he holds a nail in each hand. The girl giggles when it 'sees' us, while the boy just tilts his head to one side.

"Those are Dollboys and Dollgirls," I state to Alice as I recognize these walking giants as the 'abominations' in the Dollmaker's sieges, "They're a bastard to kill; you've got to break their clothes off before you can hit their hearts. That's their vulnerable point. They can also breathe fire, so watch out for that."

"I'll keep that in mind," Alice says as she summons the Teapot Cannon. "Ready for a fight?"

"For my friends? Always."

I crack a smile as I summon the Fire Whip. I charge towards the dolls as Alice bubbles up a shot. It's time to show the Dollmaker that I'm back, and I've brought the savior of Wonderland with me. These minions will fall!

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. We've arrived in the Dollhouse, met the Insane Children, learnt Kyle's backstory, and now face the Dollgirl and 'Dollboy' (as it's called in 'The Art of Alice: Madness Returns'). How will they deal with this threat? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	37. Threats Behind Every Door

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **This chapter will introduce a few enemy/creature designs: the 'Dollboy' (a male equivalent of the Dollgirl with a ranged attack), and a dog-spider creature that is featured in 'The Artwork of Alice: Madness Returns'. I plan to use these creatures in combat, or exploring, while our heroes are in the Dollhouse.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series, are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The Whip's flames burn bright as I swing the weapon in a wide arc at both doll-children. A wave of fire slams into their bodies, but they barely Dollgirl skips over to me with a bright chuckle; when she gets close, she swings one of her scissor halves down at me. It scrapes just along my arm, and I teleport back to avoid another strike. The Dollboy comes up next, and slams the nail he holds at my face. I jump to the side, and the nail goes into the ground.

The Dollboy tugs at the nail to pull it out, and I snare his arm with the Whip. The two of us engage in a tug-of-war, with his arm as the prize. He doesn't make a sound as I dig my feet into the ground and pull. Flames engulf the arm, and the boy yields with a painful cry. I tug the Whip back to me, but it sticks to the now-burning limb. I can't get it loose.

A nearby _splosh_ of tea reminds me Alice is in this fight. The Dollgirl's screech tells me she was the one who got hit, and she didn't like it. I turn back to the Dollboy and pull the Whip as hard as I can. The burning limb rips off the boy's body with a _squelch_. He groans as a clear white liquid sprays out of the stump. The next moment, he's up in my face, his other fist aimed to pound my head in. I drop the Whip and teleport to one side, next to a set of wooden spikes.

The boy gurgles at me with his frozen mouth, and then throws the nail in his remaining hand at me. It punches through my skin and into bone. The force knocks me on my ass, the pain far worse than I thought. The boy's stomps towards me, his footsteps louder and louder. If I don't make a move, I'll be crushed under his feet!

I roll as best I can for several seconds to get away. Once I don't hear the Dollboy's stomps, I force myself to my feet. I grip beneath the base of the nail in my shoulder with my right hand, take a quick breath, and slowly pull the nail back out. Even my mist's cooling touch doesn't numb the pain. I try to calm my mind like the monks taught me; I shouldn't focus on the pain, but the numbness beyond it.

I look up as the Dollboy strides towards me again. I summon the Automaton Hammer, and grip it with both hands. My injured shoulder remains cold as I thumb the Hammer's power switch. I wait for the Dollboy to make the first move as it comes at me. It does so with another fast punch, and I dart forward with an upward swing. The Hammer slams into his chest, and he stumbles back as his clothes shatter into pieces.

The porcelain monster moans at his nakedness, but I don't let up. I give his right leg a solid pound that makes it _crack_ , and he falls to one knee. Before I can deal the killing blow, he belches out fire. I teleport back as the Hobby Horse neighs from nearby. The Dollboy stands up and covers his naked chest with his remaining arm; he knows his weak point.

I run back to where I dropped the Whip, and dismiss the Hammer before I pick the Whip up. I twirl the Whip over my head as the Dollboy slowly stumbles around to face me, and swing my weapon with the cry, "For Wonderland!"

The Whip wraps around the Dollboy's chest, and the rest of his body ignites. A moment later, he breaks free of the Whip with a burst of strength. I stumble from the recoil while the boy pulls out another nail from the collection hammered into his face. The flames on his body still burn as I pull the still-intact Whip back, but he still has enough strength to fling the nail at me. I spin on my toes like I saw some of the Grove's monks do, and don't get hit.

I growl as I teleport up close to the boy, and wrap the Whip around his exposed chest again. I pull it taut, and then give a jumping kick at where his heart should be. I keep the Whip taut as the boy stumbles back, and he stays standing. He spits out more fire as I run around him, but I stay one step ahead of the flames.

Then, I hear a loud _crack_ from his chest; his heart's been exposed. The Dollboy groans as I come back around to his front, and then pull back on the Whip. His body spins around from my efforts, and he stumbles in place. I switch to the Hammer as I leap up to his chest for the final blow. The impact I make vibrates through my body as the boy cries out one last time, and then whimpers as his heart bursts into milky-white blood.

* * *

My limbs ache as the boy stops moving; I've won the fight, but that fucking _hurt_.

I look to where I last heard Alice fighting, and see she's already dealt with the Dollgirl on her own. Her clothes sport several tatters and cuts. She slowly walks back to where we stood before these dolls came, and I look to Fort Resistence. The Insane Children's heads poke out of the two front windows, and I smile as I raise my Hammer over the Dollboy's corpse.

The children shout triumphantly at our victory. I then slowly walk over to Alice as she looks around us for the way forward. I look around as well, and spot a four-legged creature with a dog's skull and metal spider legs quickly scurry into a neighboring house. It must have been watching us, but I dismiss it as Alice turns to face me.

"I assume you'll want to stay with your friends, right?" I blink as Alice asks me this question. It only then hits me that I'll have to leave my children behind if I want to continue with Alice on her journey.

"It's… complicated," I reply as I look to the fort. "I do want to stay with my friends, since I've been gone for so long. But," I add as I turn back to face Alice, "I've also fought alongside you for so long already that it'd be a bit awkward to change styles. We work well enough as a team, yes?"

"Yes, you're right," Alice muses as she tilts her head in thought. "I guess if this 'Dollmaker' you and the Children know about has enemies as tough as this, then we'll each need all the help we can get. And," she adds as she gestures to the Fort, "this place has already held up for this long without us. I'd say we need to deal with this problem at the source."

"I guess," I agree with a disappointed sigh. "I want to get the Children's opinion on this. They're my closest friends, after all." Alice frowns, but yields to my request. I take a few steps towards the Fort and try to form the correct question.

"My friends," I shout to the towering structure, "listen closely! Alice has to leave here to defeat the Dollmaker, and I want to help her with that. But, I also want to stay with you and protect the Fort from future assaults, like we did before. Do you want me to stay here, or go with Alice?"

The children all duck their heads inside the Fort to discuss. I hold my breath as the seconds tick by without an answer. I turn back to Alice, and try to dismiss my worry with a wide smile. She smirks back, and then points back to the window. Alicia is leaning out when I look over there.

"We've got our vote," she says. "We've gotten this far without you, we can o a bit longer. Go with Alice, and keep her safe. Just come back after all this is done, got it?"

"Got it, Alicia," I reply as a weight leaves my chest. "And, thank you."

"Ah, you're gonna make me cry," Alicia says with a wave of her hands. "Give the Dollmaker a kick where the sun doesn't shine! Resist!"

She ducks back into the fort, and I bow my head in silent gratitude that I won't have to leave Alice's side. Alice taps my shoulder, and I follow her away from my long-standing home.

I hope it still resists the Dollmaker when I return.

* * *

Alice and I quickly spot a sign with the words 'FROG'S WAY' that points to the crotch of a giant, naked doll. The crotch is large enough that we can crawl through it, despite how disgusting this feels to me. Once through that, we jump across a gap between two platforms that leads to the wasteland of mismatched parts below. A nearby wall lowers down for us when we land on the other side, and we move into the next room before whatever lowered it changes its mind.

A large blue book with the title 'Humpty Dumpty' rests against one wall, alongside a small white table with an arranged tea set. Once again, words come to my lips the moment I see the title:

" _Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.  
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.  
All the King's horses and all the King's men  
Couldn't put Humpty together again!_"

Alice sighs as I blush in embarrassment. I'm not sure whether she's heard that tale before, or just annoyed that I instantly spoke it out. Despite her annoyance, she doesn't comment on it.

However, the Cheshire Cat looks like he might have a more angry opinion when he appears amidst the tea set and states, "I've heard self-reliance is a virtue. Now, _you've_ heard it."

He vanishes away after he says this, and we press on without questioning his words. Alice pulls a lever at the corner of the room that opens another wall for us. We go through that to find a series of steam vents that float towards an open space between a group of multicolored houses. We twirl, or float, across the vents, and land close by each other. The ground instantly shakes a bit as several Drifting Ruin rise up in a clustered pack.

"Take them out," Alice shouts as she summons the Teapot Cannon and charges a shot. I summon the Fire Whip and lash at the closest ones before they can fire. I twist and coil the Whip as quick as I can, but that makes the Whip nearly fly out of my hands. Thankfully, I take the Ruin I target out before I toss my weapon into the wasteland below.

Alice fires a bubbling tea grenade into the remaining Ruin, and only two remain after the blast clears. These two fire spiked balls at us, but we both teleport closer to them to avoid the attack. Alice uses a close-range tea grenade as I wrap the Whip around the foe she doesn't target. Both the Ruin don't survive out attacks, and Alice gets a large collection of teeth and rose petals to absorb from their carcasses.

We share a smile, and a laugh, at how easy that was before we see a new vent that rises off the edge of where we stand. It leads to a platform with a golden '3' hammered into an adjacent wall.

"Hold it," Alice says as I take a step towards the vent, "there's a keyhole here."

She points out the little door for me, and we both shrink down and go through it's small tunnel. Once inside, we find a large table set for four people to eat at… and a puppet of the White Rabbit that hangs over the table by a noose. I stare at the puppet as Alice moves to one side, and I quickly hear a memory being shattered.

" _The proofs are legion,_ " Dr. Bumby's voice rings out in the small room. " _Every creature has a purpose. It is my sacred duty to fit every young person to a calling, be it for ornament or use. Read your history! Read your mythology._ "

' _That doesn't match with any myth I know,_ ' I think as I force my eyes away from the hanging rabbit. Alice leads us back through the keyhole, apparently not wanting to look at the rabbit any more than she has to. Once back outside, we take the vent towards the golden '3', and find a Pressure Pad around the corner. I stand on it, and have to turn around to see that a wall behind us has fallen down.

"Go on ahead," Alice urges me as she also steps onto the Pad, "I'll be just behind you."

"I hope you mean that this time," I state with a smirk, and then run through the lowered wall before Alice can respond.

I have to stop at the next gap as a swing blocks the path forward. The swing has spikes along the edges, and a headless baby sits on the swing. As if this place wasn't creepy enough already!

I hear a Clockwork Bomb activate before Alice comes over to me. Out of nowhere, she slaps me upside the neck.

"Ow!" I shout as I rub the injured area with a bony hand. "I didn't deserve something that harsh."

"That joke was low-brow, and you know it!" Alice doesn't wait for my answer before she jumps and twirls past the spiked swing. She just barely gets by without being scraped, and lands on an opposite wooden platform.

I wait for two more swings before I chance a mist-fueled leap across, but I feel the spikes dig along my back midway through the jump. I land hard on the platform as my mists try to soothe the wound. I slowly stand up to see Alice has already pulled a lever over. This causes two walls to fall, and a new vent to rise from the wasteland below.

I scramble over to her, and she thankfully gives me a moment to recover before we jump across this vent to another lever. This one makes more of the surrounding walls shift around, and a toadstool spring pops up back where we fought the pack of Drifting Ruin.

Luckily for us, we can leap back to there from where we are, and avoid that spiked swing. We use the spring to reach a small attic with another Bumby memory. Why is he, of all people, becoming more important in this place? Does he have some connection to the 'Dollmaker' that controls the Ruin?

" _Every child has a purpose,_ " he states like he's explaining it to a child. " _It is the beholden duty of knowing adults to fit every young person to her calling._ " Alice scoffs at this definition of 'purpose'; has she heard that definition already?

* * *

We backtrack to where a new spring has popped up. Beyond that is another vent, and beyond _that_ is another spiked swing. My back throbs as I recall how sharp those spikes are, and I kind of don't want to cross over. Alice watches the swing as it goes back and forth, and then launches off the mushroom onto the vent at a specific moment. She floats there for a second, and then twirls three times in quick succession to land inside another house.

"Time for a different strategy," I mutter before I launch off the spring with a mist-fueled jump, and fly over the vent entirely. The swing just passes in front of me as I fly by, and I land on my feet close by Alice with a ground-shaking _thud_.

A loud giggle mixes with several gurgles just as I right myself from the impact. The sounds connect to a Dollgirl and several Insidious Ruin as they skip, or scamper, at us. The cramped quarters make the Doll a bigger threat than before. I summon the Incense Cup with the hope we can skirt around her long enough to win.

"I'll hold off the doll," I shout as the enemies all charge at us together. "You weed out the Ruin!"

Alice shouts back, "Fine!" just as the Dollgirl gets up to me. She swings her scissor-half down at me, and I jump out of the way. I fire a few bullets into her arm, but they just bounce off her skin. The girl giggles as she stomps her foot into the wood. The shockwave from this stomp makes me stumble, and I teleport up close to her before she can do that again.

I fire a round of incense bullets right into her chest, and she lets out a screech. She spits fire at me, and I teleport back as my robe gets scorched. I then get a Ruin's swipe in the side, and teleport away from that in a random direction, until I hit a wall. I end up behind the Dollgirl, and spot Alice using the Vorpal Blade to slice up her foes one at a time. The Dollgirl goes to Alice instead of me, so I run over with the Cup's chain detached.

I shout, "Leave her alone!" as I swing the Cup's front end into the Dollgirl's back. The strike chips off part of her clothes, and gets her attention. She suddenly jumps up and spins around with her scissor halves. This nearly cuts my head off as I backpedal away from her. She lands back onto the wood, and a nearby Insidious gets blown apart by the shockwave.

A flurry of blue butterflies moves over to me, and Alice reforms by my side. Some Ruin coats her dress, but she doesn't look hurt. I pull the Cup back and reattach the front end as she switches to the Teapot Cannon. We both fire on the Dollgirl, who shrieks as her clothes fall off. She covers her chest with her arms to block my bullets. The Insidious move around the girl towards us, and I pick one off before the Cup overloads.

I cough and brush away the incense that bursts into my face as I hear the Teapot Cannon bubble up another shot. Alice fires a second later, and the last of the Ruin melt away. The Dollgirl coos, and then breathes a huge column of fire at us. I teleport away from Alice, and feel my bony hands singe a bit.

I keep the Dollgirl distracted with short bursts of incense, and Alice adds heavy hits with tea grenades. We skirt past each other as we fire, and the Dollgirl doesn't move to attack us. Eventually, it gives one last screech as its chest bursts open; once that happens, we only need to fire a few more shots before she whimpers and dies.

The moment her body falls, a section of the wall on the room's far end splits open. We venture over to see another Pressure Pad, which I quickly go and stand on. This causes two colored platforms to rise up, but I hear the Pepper Grinder fire a second later. I turn around to see Alice shooting a switch that wasn't there before. Once the switch turns green, a loud _creak_ of wood tells us something else has shifted, but we can't see exactly what.

"Let's keep moving," Alice says as she steps onto the Pad. "You take point."

"Fine…" I sigh, but I wink at her before I leap to the first colored platform. I then cross the second platform, and run through a small path through a house's rooftop. I then halt as I see two more spiked swings with headless babies between me and the next platform. I try to track their speed, and they seem to move in opposite of each other. That just makes it all the more difficult to cross.

"You alright up there," Alice calls out. Then, as if to insult me, she asks in a mocking tone, "Do you need my help, again?"

"No need for that," I shout back from the front of the path. "There's just two more spiked swings here, and I don't want to get scraped again. Give me a moment."

Alice shouts, "Do be quick!" as I step back as far as I can and channel my mists into my legs. I then charge towards the closet swing and spring into the air with a burst of mist that spreads out in all directions. I fly over the first swing, barely get over the second, and crash on all fours onto the wooden platform beyond.

The impact knocks the air out of my lungs, just as something small shatters on my head. I look up as I cradle my scalp, and see a tiled roof right next to me. One tile is missing; that must have been what just hit me in the head. Looks like the Dollhouse doesn't want me using my powers in risky ways like this.

"I'm good, Alice," I shout back when I get some air inside me, "Go ahead!" I then press a hand against the wall and slowly stand up. Alice twirls over just as I brush a few stray bits of ash off my robe; she lands elegantly, like always.

"I heard the crash," she quickly says after she lands. "I would highly recommend you be more careful with that flying leap of yours."

"Noted," I reply as I scratch the back of my head. We then move around the corner of the platform to find a quick slide leading to two separate doors. We slide down, and then look at each other as to how we should go on. Do we stick together, or take separate doors? Both doors look like they lead to a similarly-colored room, but this place has shifted its rooms around before.

"We don't have time for this nonsense," Alice admits as she walks through the left door. I take a step towards her before a gut impulse makes me stop, and take the right door. I then look to the left… and see Alice standing there, perfectly fine. All that buildup for nothing.

Wonderland truly is a strange place. In fact, it's as strange as Alice is.

* * *

Alice is the first to spot a lever hidden in the shadows of this room's far corner. She pulls it over, and a large part of the wall on our right moves up one level. A doorway is now in front of us, so we go through it. What lies beyond is open air, and some bricks that climb up to the level above. Alice walks up them as I move to the edge of the room and look at the Dollhouse's many colors.

This gets boring fast. So, I take a page from Alice's book, and use my Shrink Sense to find any hidden secrets. It turns out there's a path of invisible platforms that cross over the large gap to the first floor of another house. There's also some cake that rests on a small fabric platform about halfway over there, which I intend to break open for Alice so she can get some more teeth for her 'collection'.

Speaking of Alice, she comes back down a moment later. I grow back to normal, and motion for her to follow me, before I leap onto the first invisible platform. It thankfully bears my weight, and I jump across the others until I get to the cake. It only takes one smash of the Hammer to break it; even better, no insects come scuttling out!

We move across the rest of the platforms after I give the teeth to Alice. The new house we enter seems to have three floors, and we step into the first. Alice quickly splits off from me when she takes a toadstool spring to a hidden level, and I skirt around the edge of the first floor to smash open some more cakes.

A loud _creak_ of wood makes me jump against the far wall, just as the center of the floor suddenly moves down one level. A few moments go by, and then the shifted area moves back up into place.

"Watch it, woman," I shout as my heart beats a mile a minute. "You nearly crushed me!"

"Sorry, _sir_ ," I hear Alice shout back from her hidden area, "I found a Pressure Pad up here, and wanted to test it like you've been doing. I'm going to use it again, now; is there anything important that we can get to over there?"

The shifting area moves back down a second later, and I quickly look into every possible space that could have changed. I quickly find a gingerbread wall that seems to block the only way out, and shout this information back to Alice. She then says, "Give me a second," before I hear something start to tick.

Alice rushes over to me a second later with a quick, "The Bomb's ticking!" I break into a sprint; she means a Clockwork Bomb is counting down. We both jump up to the space with the gingerbread wall, and Alice smashes it open with the Horse. We dive out just as a loud _bang_ rings in our ears, and another loud _creak_ of wood signals the center of the house has moved up again.

We both take a breather to brush off the dust and regain our breath before we look to what's ahead. It's another spiked baby-swing, of all things. Luckily, the platform beyond it is quite large, and has some wooden blocks stacked two levels high. Alice leaps over first, and I follow after a few moments. I still don't trust these swings to not graze my body.

I stand up after my landing, and almost fall back on all fours as blotches of Ruin join strange distortions in the air that appear around us. A small group of Drifting Ruin join a Menacing Ruin, a Dollgirl, and a Dollboy, all of whom surround and outnumber us.

My bony fingers twitch in sudden fear. This is probably an ambush, set by the Dollmaker himself.

* * *

"I'll handle the drifters," Alice shouts to me. "Hold the others off as best you can!"

I don't get the time to reply before the Menacing Ruin and both dolls shoot varying forms of fire at us. There's nowhere safe to teleport to, so I shrink down. I count the moments before the fire stops coming, and then grow back to normal size. I strike at the Dolls with the Fire Whip, since they are stronger than the Ruin. I swing the Whip in wide arcs, and wave after wave of fire flies across the platform.

Parts of the waves snuff out when they hit the stacks of blocks, and the Dolls don't try to dodge. The Menacing growls from behind me, and a telltale roar lets me know it's about to launch more fireballs. I teleport a short distance three times, one for each fireball, and only the last one hits me in the back.

My mists soothe the wound as I keep my focus on the Dolls. Parts of their clothes are on fire, but that's it. The boy draws back an arm as the girl skips towards me. I teleport to the boy, and wrap the Whip around his raised arm. A good tug pulls the limb down, and it quickly ignites. Further tugs start to pull the arm off the body.

Suddenly, a massive arm of Ruin lifts me off the ground and throws me across the area. I slam into one of the stacks of blocks and slide down to the ground, my Whip somehow still in my hands.

I stagger to my feet as Alice gets shot in the back by a fireball. At the same moment, a large nail _thunks_ right above my head into the stack of blocks. I shrink down in surprise, and barely stay standing as the Dollgirl skips over to me. Her steps make the ground shake as I grow to normal size.

I run away, and come to the edge of the platform far too quickly. The Dollgirl giggles as I whirl around, just as her scissor halves come down. I dodge one with a sharp lean, but the other slices through my robe and gashes my chest. I fall to my knees, out of breath and bleeding. My watery eyes see the Dollgirl's foot as she rises it above my head.

Desperation kicks in.

I teleport through the gap between the Dollgirl's legs. I clutch my chest when I reform, and try to swing the Whip at the Dollboy's burnt arm. My swing smacks against his head instead, and that gets his attention. Alice teleports over to me through a storm of blue butterflies. One of her eyes is swollen shut, and her dress is torn and tattered in several places.

Once again, we're surrounded. The Menacing Ruin has one of its three masks missing, and the Whip's flames have burnt through most of the Dollboy's clothing. But, these three large foes are still living, still fighting. They pace around us for a second as we stand back-to-back, trying to find an opening through the tight circle we've found ourselves in.

Then, we get bathed in fire. There's no chance of escape.

My robe ignites and turns into black flakes of fabric. A strand of Alice's hair flies by my eyes, and turns into smoke. Alice screams, and a shockwave flows through me. Everything turns gray. I turn around, and Hysteria's bleeding eyes look back at me. Her blood holds the only color I can see.

Hysteria shoves a clawed hand into my chest, covering part of my cut. My pain goes away as she shouts, " _Unleash your hatred, fool!_ "

I obey her command.

My body disperses into countless copies that move as one collective storm. Hysteria stands in the midst of that storm. Her hair flaps upward as she summons a gray-and-white Hobby Horse with bleeding eyes and drooling mouth. The Dolls shield their chests with their arms, but I am everywhere around them by this point; they can't hide their weaknesses.

A group of my copies slam into the Menacing Ruin's back and bring it over to Hysteria. She swings the Horse, and one face comes off. She swings again, and the other face cracks as the Horse snorts loudly. She swings a third time, and the horse's triumphant neigh rings in my many ears as the Ruin falls apart. Rose petals spill out of the corpse, which Hysteria instantly absorbs.

My copies turn to the Dollboy as Hysteria turns to the Dollgirl. I see her dodge the Girls' desperate swipe as I pick the Boy off the ground. I pull his arms open, splay him out before me, and drive a flurry of blows into his chest. His clothes break, his chest breaks, and then his heart breaks in a spray of milky-white blood. Teeth and rose petals fall out as my copies rip and tear the corpse to bits. No piece of him is left untouched, and I absorb the spilled items to restore my health.

At the same time, my copies see Hysteria smash both the Dollgirl's arms and knock her on her back. She then summons the Vorpal Blade, and digs it into the Doll's chest. A few twists of the oversized knife make the Girl scream in agony as milky-white blood spurts from the stab wound. The Dollgirl falls limp a moment later, and Hysteria absorbs the fallen items. My copies tear the corpse apart, and then start to join back together.

The storm fades as the world regains its colors. My copies fuse back into one person as Hysteria returns to the Alice I recognize. We both slump to the platform as my limbs give out. All I can do is breathe in and out, in and out. The Dollhouse's sky looks down on us as we rest from yet another fight.

* * *

I stand up after an unknown amount of time. My robe is restored, fully clean, and the cut in my chest is gone. Alice's swollen eye is healed, her dress repaired. Yet, she looks sad.

"She took control," Alice mutters as she stares at one of the stacks of blocks. "She took control, and I let her do it. Am I losing my command over her?"

I have no answer for her with regards to Hysteria's power, so I look around us for the next path we have to take.

A faint scuttling noise directs me to that dog-spider I saw at the fort. Its beady blue eyes lock with mine for a second before it retreats into a broken window in a nearby house. It must have been watching us, and I don't know whether that's good or bad.

A familiar _snort_ reaches my ears, and I look around for the Snout that caused it. But, I don't spot anything. I look around again, and then spot the nose of a giant doll's head twitch. I squint my eyes at it and it twitches again with another _snort_. The Snout is actually the nose of the doll. That's funny, but I don't have the energy to laugh.

I move to Alice and tap her shoulder; she shakes free of her trance, and quickly gets to her feet. She notices the Snout a lot faster than I did, and peppers it down without a second thought. The Snout vanishes after it sneezes, and a vent rises to our level. We take it to reach two separate platforms, but we stick together on the right one as it loops around the back of another house.

We quickly find a Liddel memory, its white glow bright against the shadows of the house. Alice breaks it with a touch, and Ms. Liddel's voice rings out in an angry tone, " _You're not a cat, my dear. One life is your allotment! Please be more careful with the carving knife._ "

Alice actually summons the Vorpal Blade after she hears this, and looks it over with glazed eyes. I let her have a moment with the weapon. I also used it, but not as well as her. Does she think she's losing her control with the Blade, too?

Once Alice dismisses the Blade, we shrink down through a keyhole to reach a small room with a Pris Memory inside. The old woman's voice is quieter than Ms. Liddel's as she says, " _Dr. Wilson's not fooled, Alice. Discipline must be maintained. Cleanliness is optional. Whatever you've imagined about 'electrical current', it's not half of it. It can be a persuasive teacher. Strict, mind. Disciplined!_ "

The 'electrical current' I saw in the asylum comes to me, and I rub my skeletal hands against my suddenly-cold arms. If Pris wants to teach 'proper order' through electric shocks, she won't get my approval. She's a cruel woman.

We backtrack to the large battleground in silence, and find a nearby wall on the first floor of a house has opened up for us in our absence. We use the same vent we just leaped over to get there, and then use a toadstool spring to reach the second floor. Alice pulls a lever as I spot a clock with eyes for numbers looking at us. I leave the clock alone as a piece of the floor we stand on shifts down back to the first floor.

Once we get down there, that wall closes up again. Why did we come down here again, if we just end up on the same floor?

As if to answer my question, the Cheshire Cat appears by a small doll torn in half. His narrow eyes stare us down. Does he see a weakness in us?

"What is sought after is usually found," he intones, "if it is findable."

He vanishes with a twitch of his ears, and another toadstool spring pops up where he sat. We take that up to a _third_ floor of the house, which answers my earlier question. Nothing special pops out at us here, so we smash open a gingerbread wall, and step into the open air.

Several spiked swings block our way to the next set of houses and platforms. I rub a hand down my face in annoyance at these challenges…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. The adventures in the Dollhouse continues; stay tuned to find out what will happen next!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	38. Deeper Underground

**Hello, everyone! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **Also, to the comment made by 'el marcos' about Kyle having a darker side (like Hysteria to Alice), I will keep that idea in mind for this last bit. It wasn't in my original plan to give Kyle a darker side, but I suppose his wild bursts of emotion could be similar to a darker side. Who knows, some big event/discovery could awaken a darker half? In any case, thanks for the idea.**

 **Also, there's going to be a creature featured in 'The Artwork of Alice: Madness Returns' featured here. There'll also be an interesting twist on the Dollhouse's minigame. Keep an eye out.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any fully custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

"These swings are pretty annoying," I comment as we watch said objects go to and fro. "Don't you agree, Alice?"

"Whether they're annoying or not isn't important," Alice answers with a tight lip. "We just need to get past them." She emphasizes her words with a dash towards the swings, and jumps into the air. Three long twirls in midair get her across, and she doesn't get hurt once.

She lands on the platform's edge, and stumbles for a moment. My heart leaps in my chest, but she rights herself without harm. Now, I just have to get across.

' _This won't end well…_ ' I think to myself. I look around me to find another way across. The right wall extends up to about where the swings go to. Maybe, if I get enough speed, I can leap across from the side. It's worth a shot; the next best thing I can think of would be trying to bash through them all like a cannonball.

I take some deep breaths as I get an angle as to how I should try this wall-run. It's been a long time since I last did it, in the Grove, and that was on a simpler scale.

Come to think of it, why didn't I remember this bit of training until now? It could have been useful earlier!

' _No, no, don't lose focus. Just run up the wall, and jump to the platform. If you make a big impact, it'll be fine. Probably._ '

I shake my head, and run a few steps towards the wall. Once I get close enough, I jump onto it. My feet barely touch the surface as I trail my hand along the wall. I don't question the fact I'm literally _running up a wall_ , I just do it.

I leap off with one foot, and fly above the swings as I had hoped. I flail my arms out to try and slow my descent, but that doesn't help. My training kicks in again, and I tuck into a forward roll to spread my momentum out on the platform. I land hard, but don't break any bones. I get up as soon as I land, and trip over my feet.

I fall flat on my face. So much for my training.

A deep-throated gurgle comes from nearby, along with the Pepper Grinder's rhythmic fire. I shake my head as I summon the Incense Cup. Alice stands against a group of Drifting Ruin. I join in the firefight, and the floating creatures fall one by one.

Alice's fire stops as soon as the enemies are gone. I look over as she places a Clockwork Bomb on an adjacent Pressure Pad. The houses around us wiggle as a path at the far end from us opens up. The Bomb instantly starts to tick down, and Alice jumps to a multicolored platform.

I don't have time to argue with this plan. More Ruin could spawn, and the Bomb only provides so long to make our move. I just dismiss the Grinder, make a quick jump to the platform, and then a second jump to reach the far end where Alice is. We reach a forked path as the Bomb gives its final _dings_ , and then explodes. The walls behind us close as Alice jumps to some more floating platforms on our left.

"Take the right side," she calls to me once she lands on the first platform, "I think there's a Snout over here. I'll call you if I find something important."

I shout back, "Sure thing," and jump towards a vent on my right. I float on it to orient myself. We're both now in a clearing between several tightly-packed houses. The area doesn't seem familiar to me. But, hiding from the Dollmaker's minions was the more important task before now.

I jump to a nearby platform, next to another lever. As I look back to where Alice split up from me, a Snout sneezes with enough force to blow out the second-floor wall of a house. I laugh in surprie at this display; I know pepper can be irritating, but that Snout must really despise the stuff.

Alice backtracks to where we split up, and then comes over to me to reach the lever. I keep watch as she pulls it, and spot a toadstool spring appear at the bottom of a small slide right next to us. The third level of the same house the Snout just blew out opens up to reveal three small rooms separated by door frames. Alice leads us over by sliding down to the spring, and then using the spring to get up to that level.

We breeze through the first two rooms, but the third doorframe holds a Drifting Ruin. Alice reacts first, and blows it up with the Teapot Cannon. The tea sprays over the doorframe as the Ruin melts away. Wisps of steam rise into the air as we wait for any more foes to come. Nothing appears after a few tense moments, so Alice dismisses the Cannon as we press on.

The third room has nothing special in it, so we go through a hole in its wall, leap across a small gap to another house, and land inside that house's first floor. The walls of this house instantly close up behind us at the same time four blocks disappear from in front of us.

I groan. We've just begun another puzzle challenge.

"Cheer up," Alice tells me. "It's just four pieces, like before. We'll get it done."

I sigh and accept Alice's words as we begin our search for the four pieces.

* * *

We go down some stairs, and reach an open room to our left. There's a locked door to our right. Alice moves over to a huge, ornate table that's in the open room, and uses a nearby block to jump on top of it. She looks around for a moment, and then moves over to something I can't see. A moment later, the door to my right opens up. I go through it.

A toadstool spring pops up from the wooden floor, and I use it to reach the first puzzle block. It vanishes when I touch it. I then look around from my new height. The low light up here reveals traces of Shrinking Violet petals in the air. I use my Shrink Sense to confirm that, yes, there is an invisible walkway that stretches to an open door leading to where Alice is. I take slow steps, and pick up some teeth along the path.

I get to the door unscathed, and touch a second puzzle block by the door. It also vanishes. I then jump onto the same table Alice is on. She stands on a Pressure Pad amidst the table's white cloth. That might have been how she opened the door for me.

She absorbs the teeth I got for her as a new door pops open to our right. We take it, and walk down another flight of stairs until we reach a dark room lit by a few lamps mounted to the walls.

A Menacing Ruin climbs out of a large Ruin blotch that lies next to a light-blue cradle. Several other blotches rest at the room's corners, and I hear the squeaks of Slithering Ruin as they slither towards us from all sides. Alice charges at the larger foe with the Vorpal Blade. I summon the Fire Whip and let loose a burning arc that scorches several Slithering to burnt crisps. I repeat this process on my other side, and then stride over towards Alice's position.

More Slithering come towards me, and I snap the Whip again and again to keep them back. A few get close enough to latch onto my skin, and I slap them off. The Menacing squeals as I hear a mask shatter; it's good that Alice is taking care of _that_ problem.

I switch to the Ice Wand as the Slithering start to clump together in packs, and fire bolts into each pack to slow them down. Despite my efforts, the worms keep coming, endless in their numbers. By this point, I can't get a good aim on the blotches they're coming from.

I choose to channel the Wand's magic into cones of cold, which freezes groups into a barrier the next bunch have to climb over to get to me. Behind me, the Hobby Horse neighs loudly against the Menacing Ruin's grunts and snorts.

"We're being swarmed, Alice," I shout over my shoulder as something shatters from where Alice should be standing, "We need to find the third block, and go!"

"One last shot— _oof_ —should do the trick," Alice calls back, her sentence cut midway by something I can't see.

By this point, the Slithering have become a wave that slowly covers whatever I freeze. I switch back to the Whip and make several quick lashes. It doesn't help.

I breathe faster as fear starts to take hold. I already lost most of my hands to these things; I don't want to be completely devourered!

A loud _splosh_ mixes with a loud whimper. I turn around as the Menacing melts away, and Alice doesn't look damaged at all. She quickly turns to the wave of Slithering, Teapot Cannon sputtering with fresh grenades. The projectiles break the wave into smaller clumps, and I snap the Whip at the clumps to break them down further.

The Slithering pull back far enough to open a path right to a Ruin-covered wall. Alice aims the Cannon there after it _gurgles_ twice, and blasts it open. I fire a few final bolts of ice into the swarm as we go through the open wall, but they don't come through after us. We find a third puzzle block in the new area, and Alice touches it to make it vanish.

"You were quite efficient with that Menacing," I say to Alice as she moves to a Shrinking Violet and shrinks down to restore what bit of her health had been damaged.

She waits until she pops back out before she gives her reply: "Experience is sometimes the best teacher."

We both then shrink down after Alice spots a keyhole for us to go through. That keyhole leads to another keyhole, which then leads to a small alcove with the final puzzle block. Alice touches it, it vanishes, and we instantly return to the first room, in front of the puzzle frame. The four pieces join the full image, and we get to work on completing the puzzle.

We take turns moving pieces around. Alice seems to know what we have to make from the start. It doesn't take very long for the image to get formed; a sad, crying boy. Not the best thing to see right now.

A _click_ comes from behind me. When I turn around, the back end of the room opens up to reveal a long path with, of all things, more spiked swings. There are vents in between the two swings, and one of them loops in a circle. I refuse to question the logics behind such an act, and just follow Alice outside.

* * *

There aren't any walls here for me to run up, so I watch how Alice gets across. She times her jump past the first swing, floats on the vent's air for a few moments, and then quickly twirls twice to stay airborne long enough to reach the other platform. I jump past the first swing easily, and float as high as I can on the vent as the swing in front of me goes on its odd loop. I fall to the platform when the swing starts its loop; thankfully, I land with both feet.

Before I can calm myself down, a whirling sound sparks a bad memory. I turn to my right as four female doll heads with dirty blond hair and teal ribbons fly towards us. Four doll legs act as the propellers to keep each head airborne. Their eyes leak milky-white goo, and screws are drilled into their pupils.

"Bitch Babies," I growl as I summon the Incense Cup. "The airborne troops of the Dollhouse. Alicia coined the name, and it certainly fits."

One Baby proves my point when it suddenly hacks up a ball of acidic saliva, and spits it at me. I teleport back, and the acid hisses when it strikes the wood.

Alice quickly attacks that Baby with the Pepper Grinder, but she only gets a few shots in before it darts a small distance back from us. I fire at it with the Cup's incense, and manage to shatter one of its eyes. That's enough to make it spark and spit more goo as it quickly falls towards us both. I remember what comes next, and teleport back just as the Baby hits the ground. It explodes on impact, and Alice doesn't get away in time.

"Gaah!" Alice screams as she looks at her acid-coated clothing. "My dress! You bitch!"

"See what I mean?" I shout as I turn the Cup towards the next Baby. It dodges my first burst of fire, but Alice grinds it down right afterward. So much pepper goes into its machinery that it just explodes in midair. The other two Babies spit acid at us, and I teleport as far away as I can. Alice reforms from her own teleportation right by me, looking very angry.

"These things can dodge the Grinder's shots," she exclaims as we continue to fire at these airborne targets, "Is there any better way to kill them?"

"The Children usually set up bombs to lob at them," I quickly state as my memories come back. "They don't dodge something of that size. I usually threw them on Alicia's command, since I had the best strength of us all."

"A bomb, eh?" Alice seems to get the point as she switches to the Teapot Cannon. She fires a shot just as her target starts to hack up another acid ball. The grenade hits, and the Baby explodes into a shower of metal, plastic, and acid. Alice quickly fires a second shot, and the Baby doesn't even try to dodge the attack.

No more Babies come at us. Alice's skin returns to its normal color once she absorbs a rose petal or two, and my mists heal up any small burns. I look towards the next set of swings with an angry click of my tongue. It looks like we'll have to loop around two swings in order to get to an isolated platform in the center of the area that has a lever to pull.

I turn to Alice as she stares intently at the same platform. She bobs her head to a rhythm only she feels, and then cracks a wide grin.

"There's a gap through the swings," she says as she points between the two nearest spiked annoyances. "We just need to go through here when they are each at their highest, and we can make it over. Here, I'll show you."

Alice then moves over as close as she can to her target, and jumps up when she said to do so. Three long twirls give her enough distance to land right on the platform. I stare in surprise that the plan worked, and then instantly want to do it for myself. Unfortunately, there is the possibility that I'll leap too far and fly over the platform entirely. But, I _really_ don't like these swings…

' _Fuck it,_ ' I think as I take several steps back, ' _It's reckless, but it'll get the job done._ '

I sprint forward when the two swings reach their top points, and use my mists to empower my leap I flail my legs against air to try and get some extra height as I fly through the gap Alice said would be there. I then reach for the platform… and start to fall down just before I can grab it.

A hand grabs my right arm just as I fall below the platform. That limb flares in pain as it tries to support my entire body. The saving hand pulls me up with tremendous strength, and I fall into the arms of its owner, Alice. Alice wraps her arms around me, my face in her right shoulder. She releases me a second later, and turns to the lever with a slight blush on her cheeks. My own cheeks are hot, so I don't blame her.

The lever causes a fabric platform sporting a toadstool spring to rise up to our level. However, four more Bitch Babies descend from somewhere in the sky before we can get to the spring. Our platform is quite small, but we both now know how to deal with them.

I summon the Automaton Hammer, switch it to 'RM', and prop a shot at a Baby while on two legs. My arms shake from nearly falling to my death, and our cramped space makes aiming hard. But, I still fire a shot off.

The shot hits, and the Baby explodes into burning parts that fall into the wasteland below. I lower the Hammer as its gauges show it needs time to recharge. My skin burns as acid splashes on me. I whirl to face whatever fired at me as I hear the Teapot Cannon fire a shot of its own.

The Hammer's gagues brightly flash the 'OK' signal, and I prop the weapon right on my shoulder. The Baby I aim at dives down at me, but I have enough time to fire my shot. The explosion it causes scatters acid and doll parts across the platform, and onto my robe.

I turn to the last Baby, but Alice has taken care of it already. She stands with a smoking Teapot Cannon, taking quick breaths. Her hair is matted and sticks to her face, sweat glistening on her skin. She just brushes her hair back with her hand, dismisses the Cannon, and jumps to the spring without a single complaint. I follow her, and we spring up to the rooftop of yet another house.

This one is marked with a golden '8' on the outer wall, like the golden '3' from earlier. A golden bottle floats nearby, which Alice quickly takes. There's also a Pris memory, which Alice touches to open.

" _There's a tool for every task,_ " Pris states matter-of-factly. " _Even the humble funnel has a special job. How would you get gin from a barrel into a bottle?_ "

I roll my eyes as I remember Pris has a gin addiction. Alice shakes her head, and then darts across the rooftop to a set of rotating colored columns. I follow her, like so many times before.

There doesn't seem to be a way to go past the columns… until we use our Shrink Sense, and see the columns have invisible platforms on them. It doesn't take much effort to jump on at the right time.

Alice then raises her hand to stop me from moving on; I hear the telltale snort of a Snout in the pause. Alice spots that Snout a bit below where we now are, and peppers it up after the column rotates around once.

The Snout vanishes, and a vent appears by a now-open door. To get there, we have to go back to the rooftop we were just on, and then ride the vent's currents over. I lag a bit behind Alice as I feel a bit sick for a moment. When I get over to her, she stands before a Radula Room's shell with her hands behind her back. She smiles as I finally arrive, and we both enter the room to face whatever challenges are inside.

* * *

The Vale of Tear's cool air washes over my suit and boots as we walk towards the Cheshire Cat. He's in the same place as before, and he greets us in a similar way as before: "A puzzle a day keeps the stupidity away, wouldn't you say?" We don't answer his question, and he doesn't seem to mind as he turns to Alice.

"Riddle me this," he says to her. "The one who uses it doesn't know they are using it. What is 'it'?"

" _That's_ your question?" Alice crosses her arms over her chest as her face turns annoyed. "What makes you think knowing something that its owner doesn't know they're using will help us?"

The Cat flicks his tail across the waters as Alice doesn't say anything else. Eventually, Alice then gives in and answers, "It's a coffin, you know."

"I _do_ know," the Cat replies with flattened ears, "And now, you do, too." He then looks at me with an odd glint in his yellow eyes, and I brace myself for a tough riddle.

"See if you can solve this, Kyle," he asks. "What is hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget?"

I mull these requirements in my head. 'Memory' comes to mind, but that won't work because I lost that when the ritual backfired. 'Home' is another option, but I didn't know that Wonderland was my home when I first got here. I had tried to make logical sense out of everything I saw, when that shouldn't be the case. What else is there that's important to me?

The answer comes on its own, and I laugh at myself for not realizing it sooner: "It's a friend."

"Rightly so," the Cat exclaims. "I see recovering your memories hasn't dulled your intelligence any."

He vanishes after that, and two more vials of Rose Paint float in front of us.

" _Friendship,_ " Hysteria snorts as Alice absorbs the vials and the air turns to black. " _A stupid value to fight for, in my opinion. But, I'll allow it so long as it means we can keep killing…_ "

* * *

The Dollhouse's sky hasn't changed a bit when we come out of the Radula Room. We backtrack to the large rooftop, and get back on the rotating column's invisible platforms. We then move to the next set, using our Shrink Sense to see where the platforms actually are instead of jumping blind and hoping for the best.

After we navigate two more columns in this manner, we land on a large fabric platform with a square object in its center. The houses around us seem closer than I think they really are, like they're going to shift open, or apart, at any second. Alice moves over to the square object and looks it over. I come over a second later, and see it has bright colors on all sides, and a handle on the right to crank.

"A jack-in-the-box," Alice states for us both. "These always contain nasty surprises."

Such a surprise comes in the form of the Cheshire Cat as he appears to the box's left without warning.

"Looks like a perfect fit," he comments as he gestures to the box, and then to himself, "and I'm a perfect judge. Time to put your new noggin to use!"

He vanishes after that, and Alice quickly starts to crank the box's handle. A few seconds pass before a loud _sproing_ rings out, and the box's top opens up to launch what a doll's head marked with the 'Omega' symbol into the air. The head flies in an arc towards the rooftop of a nearby house, and the roof actually opens up to accept it inside.

I turn around as I hear giggling, but don't find anyone. When I turn back to Alice, _she_ isn't here, either. I quickly glance around the platform, and use my Shrink Sense, to spot any kind of passages she could have taken. My search comes up empty, and I grow back to normal size with a cold fear in my gut. Where could she have gone so fast?

Something moves quickly along the house's walls. It's the dog-spider creature that watched us before. It crawls into a large hole in the wall of the same house that doll-head disappeared into. Maybe it knows where Alice went? I don't see any other big options to solve my problem, other than to backtrack and see if Alice ran off somewhere without telling me.

To my surprise, the dog-spider then peeks back out of the hole and looks right at me. It's like it wants me to follow it; the hole it's in seems big enough for me to go through. With no other good choices at hand, I take a few steps back and leap over to where the dog-spider is. It scurries back the moment my feet leave the ground, and I use a forward roll to not break my arms on impact.

I land in near-darkness, hard wood surrounding me in a corridor that could fit both Alice and me side-by-side. The air is dry, and my eyes take a second to adjust to the lack of light.

The dog-spider is several paces in front of me, blocking my way forward. The darkness shrouds it, but I can still see it standing before me. It scurries down the corridor, and I run after it. We take a few winding turns down the corridor before the wood to my left suddenly changes into glass windows.

I slow down as dazzling lights hit my eyes from that side. My jaw drops as I see a side-view of some giant, crazy, misshapen track alongside the corridor. A doll's head with the 'Omega' symbol moves among the track like a ball, navigating its way through by its own power. It uses vents and springs to reach higher places, and rolls down slopes to reach lower ones. It smashes other frozen doll-heads apart along the way, and doesn't shatter itself.

Maybe that's where Alice is, right now. That, or she's in some other space navigating the ball under her control. She did launch the thing out of the box, so it could be under her command.

I turn back to the corridor to see the dog-spider hasn't moved on. It still blocks my way forward, but its legs are jittery, like it's waiting for me to make a move. I frown, and take a step forward; it scuttles back a step. I take two steps, and it moves two steps. I sprint towards it with hand outstretched, and it runs down the corridor at top speed.

' _This thing wants a chase,_ ' I realize as I settle into an even running pace. ' _Well, I'll oblige it so long as I can keep an eye on that doll head._ '

The glass windows continue to show me the multicolored track as I run, the doll's head almost at the same distance I am along its own path. Then again, I run at a constant pace while it has to stop and start every so often.

The corridor tilts down when the track tilts down, slopes up when the track slopes up. I don't slow in my pace, and the dog-spider doesn't move any faster than a few steps ahead. It eventually springs into the air to turn itself around, and continues to scuttle forward at the same pace. My bare feet pound into the wood, my breathing and the dog-spider's metal legs the only other sounds I hear as I keep up the chase.

Suddenly, the creature stops before a fork in the path. I charge towards it as it spits out a long tongue, but it swings into darkness before I can grab it. I look where it went, and see only air. The corridor continues along the other side, and the glass windows continue to show me the track. I make a snap decision, and let the dog-spider go on its way.

The corridor shortly changes into a slide, the glass windows replaced with solid wood. I slide down with the hopes that Alice is on the other side.

* * *

I land on all fours in a brightly-lit wooden platform, out of breath. The colors are gone, a much larger slide to my right leading down into a dark abyss. Scissors and knives hang above the slide by large strings, their source hidden from sight. The air is heavy, and I swear someone is crying from far away. A memory comes back, a place that the Insane Children had spoken of with great fear that looks… just like this.

"The Underground," I say to myself as I stand up. "The home of the Dollmaker."

Alicia had whispered of this place, back when the Children and I had first met. No one who was brought here ever left the darkness; the Dollmaker would use them as his toys. Compared to the upper levels, this was a prison that no one voluntarily entered. Why did the dog-spider bring me _here_ , of all places?!

Suddenly, the air distorts as someone pops into existence. It's Alice, in the same dress as before. She pats herself over before she lets out a breath.

"That," she mutters, "was a strange experience." She then jumps as she notices me, and quickly asks, "How long have you been there? No, wait, _how_ did you get here at all?"

"That's not important," I quickly say as I gesture to the abyss before us. "We're in the Underground, Alice. This is where the Dollmaker makes his prisoners his slaves. We need to be absolutely careful that he doesn't spot us, or we're finished!"

"This place certainly seems like a prison," Alice note as she steps over to the slide and looks into the infinite darkness beyond. "But, if it's our only path forward, then we have to take it. If the Dollmaker is watching, then that means we'll have the chance to fight him. That's what we need to do to end this madness, remember?"

Alice's calm words clash against my rapidly-beating heart and shaky hands. She hasn't heard about this place, doesn't know what the Dollmaker can do to his prisoners. I technically don't, either, but I've heard more than she has about this place, and I don't want to go down there until I'm good and ready.

Alice sighs when I don't move to her, and settles for smashing a few porcelain doll heads without eyes that lie around us. They have teeth and rose petals for her to absorb.

"Come on, Kyle," Alice insists as she moves back to the slide, "You've come this far, you can go a bit further. If we fight the Dollmaker, then we fight him; if not, then we collect what we can find so that we can face him at our best. What's making that so difficult for you?"

"Fine, fine, _fine!_ " I shout as I rub my bony fingers against my head. "I'll go, damn it, I'll go! I've just heard too much about this place to not be afraid of it."

"You'll get over it," Alice states. "Now, follow me."

She leaps onto the slide, which is made of polished glass and supported by metal beams, and begins her descent into the Underground. I try to clear my mind with a deep breath, and jump on after her. The glass isn't too slippery, but it does burn a bit as I ride down. Ruin patches on the path bubble and froth. I try to dodge them, and get new burns on my rump.

A fork comes up, and I dimly see Alice take the left side. I lean over to the right, and my path sharply drops as I smash through a porcelain doll head. I quickly cradle the teeth it drops out. Alice may no longer need them, but it's become a bit of a habit for me to collect them. Plus, I don't hate doing this for her.

Our paths soon join up alongside a hanging doll's head, the string gouging its eyes out. We land on solid wood, but glass windows are all around us. I don't know which way to turn next, but the sight of a pack of Insidious Ruin and Bitch Babies tells me we won't be going anywhere any time soon. The Dollmaker must know we're here, and this is his welcoming present.

* * *

I quickly lose count of how many foes there are, and just focus on the ones closest to me. I summon the Fire Whip and lash it out in a long arc that cleaves through several Ruin at once. Their bodies reform even as parts of them start to bubble from the extreme heat. I swing again, and they just take the blow without trying to dodge on their tiny little legs. Their little masks reflect my fear at the fact they aren't dying as easily as before.

The _splosh_ of a tea grenade puts an end to that fear; the Ruin just melt away before the scalding liquid, and I hear the Cannon's lid rattle as it charges another shot. I copy Alice's actions and switch to the Incense Cup, which helps in wiping out the rest of the Ruin that skitter towards us. One gets close enough to swipe at my arms as fire streams from its back, but it falls after I grind a full round of incense into its mask.

A sudden explosion knocks me on my face as my back starts to burn underneath my robe. I bring the Cup up and aim at a Bitch Baby that's about to fire its acid ball. My shots hit it just after it launches its projectile, and I teleport back with enough time to avoid damage. The Baby takes a few more shots before it sputters and falls to the ground. I teleport back to one of the mirrors, and avoid any damage from the blast the Baby makes on impact.

Alice wipes out the last Baby with a grenade, but she has several cuts on her back, most likely from Insidious Ruin that got her when she wasn't looking. She dismisses the Cannon after she looks around us, and I dismiss my weapon as I walk over to her. My mists cool my back down, but she has to bear those scars until she can heal up; I didn't see any rose petals fall from these foes.

A set of stairs is between two windows, so Alice takes those up and out of sight. I use my Shrink Sense in the meantime in the hopes there's a passage we may have missed. I'd be very happy to find a passage that leads out of here, but I suspect we won't be so lucky.

"Kyle," Alice calls as I grow back to normal size, "I've found a Snout up here, by something you might like to see."

I raise an eyebrow at this, but I go up the stairs. Alice is right by the stairs, and she points to a drawing of a brain next to a mounted Snout.

"Uh… what's the point of showing me this?" I ask.

"Just thought I'd show you that people have looked at the brain before now," Alice answers with an amused glint in her eyes. "Insanity isn't new around here."

She then aims the Grinder at the Snout, and I take a step back. The Snout vanishes just as a large doll mouth atop a wooden beam opens. We jump, or leap, up to the beam to see a Radcliffe memory inside the mouth.

" _I was required to examine your family in the Oxford morgue,_ " the man states in a displeased tone. " _Your sister was completely recognizable; I can't say the same about your parents._ "

Alice bares her teeth for a moment, but quickly recovers. We jump back down to the main floor in silence.

The next thing we discover a stone wall with the faces of dolls frozen in terror. Alice smashes it down with a heavy swing, and we find a Pressure Pad inside. The path to our right extends around where the Pad is, but the fleshy floor there is covered in black spikes. Alice stands on the Pad, and the spikes retract into the floor with an audible _shirk_.

I look to Alice, and she gestures for me to cross over like we've done before. I don't argue with her, and she comes over almost right after me. A Clockwork Bomb explodes from where we were, and the spikes pop back into place behind us. We turn to face what looks like a wooden crusher with spikes on the end that slams into another flesh bit of floor every few seconds. An Insidious Ruin try to cross the floor towards us, but it gets impaled and melts into goop.

"Hah!" I laugh. "Serves you right!"

Alice chuckles as the crusher rises back up. Another crusher is behind the first, and I see this one stops partway to the floor instead of smashing it. We could probably shrink underneath that one, but we'll have to time our approach to avoid getting crushed by the first.

Familiar gurgles reach my ears, and I turn around to see Insidious Ruin approaching us from behind. Alice pats my shoulder before she teleports underneath the first crusher, and quickly shrinks down before it slams on her head. I repeat her actions a moment later, before the pursuing Ruin can catch me. They actually do try to follow, and we make it to the other side as they start getting crushed like the first one.

"Don't these things know any better?" I ask Alice as we see one step where its friend was just smothered, only to get crushed a second later when it fails to run across the floor in time.

"Be glad they don't," she replies with a smile of her own, "or we'd be in much bigger trouble."

I smash open a nearby stone wall to reveal a Pressure Pad, but Alice first walks down some stairs to our left. I stand on the Pad and wait for her return; I think I've earned a moment's rest in this prison's wooden and glass walls…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! Alice and Kyle are now in 'The Underground', and starting to navigate its many puzzles. What else will they find down here? Stay tuned to see for yourself!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	39. Tricks and Traps

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story. I know the Dollhouse section is taking a while to get through (it took a while in the game, too), so I hope I'm making things interesting for you along the journey.**

 **There won't be any beta content things in this chapter (at least, things not already introduced). Hope that won't stop your enjoyment, though.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are all owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any original custom elements in this story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

Alice comes back up after a short wait, and she moves onto the Pad in my place. I walk off, turn to the right, and walk up a small set of stairs that lead to a long, narrow floor of flesh. Several spiked crushers hang in place above the floor, glass windows acting like walls. Before I can move onto the path, the Cheshire Cat materializes in front of me.

"Be careful, you two," he says loudly as he glances back to where Alice is. "Watch your steps." He vanishes a second later, and I look back at Alice. The wooden walls prevent me from seeing her, but she must have heard the Cat's words.

"I'm going over, Alice," I call to her, "You come across when ready."

"I'll be right behind you," she shouts back. The crushers stay in place as I go beneath them, and the glass windows show we have a maze of walls and windows to get through next. I pause at the path's end, and Alice arrives a second before the crushers start to move. She gives me a smile, and I nod back as she moves over to another stone wall in the floor.

After she smashes the wall, we fall through the hole to another narrow path. Crushers block our way once again. This is starting to get repetitive.

"Curious," Alice notes as she looks around us, "this is looking very much like the Mad Hatter's old domain; all these windows and doors serve to confuse our path forward."

I don't recall seeing the full Domain when the Hatter was in charge, so I don't say anything. As we look around, another Insidious Ruin comes at us from the front. Like the others before it, the crushers kill it before it reaches us.

These crushers have a different pattern than previous ones; they first stop partway, and then strike the floor. To get around this, we teleport forward at first, and then shrink down when the spikes get too close. We both make it across without any trouble, and then step into a four-walled enclosure. There's another path to our right. Two Drifting Ruin emerge to try and stop us, but we shoot them down before they can make any attacks.

Two Pressure Pads are here, so we each stand on one of them. I take the Pad to the right, which causes some spikes on the fleshy floor between the Pads to retract. I see through a window that Alice's Pad causes a door marked a white chalk star to open up. Beyond that door is a lever with a baby doll's head attached. Alice motions for me to stay where I am, and places a Bomb on her Pad. She then runs over to the lever, and pulls it down.

When the lever comes down, something behind me rumbles. I look over to see a wall has slid open to reveal a new path, but the Bomb explodes before Alice can get back. Thankfully, the star-marked door doesn't shut itself when the Pad loses its weight, so Alice just runs through it. I leave my Pad to follow her through a narrow passage, and then into a wide space open to the Underground's darkness.

Bitch Babies come at us from that darkness, but the platform we stand on is wide enough for us to teleport back and forth to avoid their acid balls. The Babies don't fall towards us until they're about to explode, so we don't take any major hits. They're all killed off easily enough; maybe this is a sign?

* * *

With the foes gone, I look to the next step of our path. I don't recognize anything about it.

Two large metal platforms, each with a white suit of clubs engraved into the top, hang in midair. Chains extend from their bottoms into the darkness below, and the two platforms are separated by a wall of wood. The one on the left is less blocked than the right one, but the right one leads up to what looks like the next area.

"You must be joking," Alice says, and I see her shake her head in annoyance. "I thought I had dealt with these chain-link platforms enough in Queensland."

"I'm sorry," I ask, "you know how to use these?" Alice nods, still annoyed.

"It's a bit complex," she explains. "The two platforms balance each other's weight. If you stand on one, it will push the other one up. If you get off, the one you stood on will rise back up and pull the other one down. It's like a balancing beam, actually."

Alice demonstrates what she says with her hands, moving them up and down in opposing sequence. It makes sense to me.

"The trick," she continues, "is getting off, or on, at the right time. I've had to use Clockwork Bombs as weights to reach certain spaces. It got really annoying really fast, and I didn't want to see it again."

"Well," I then ask as Alice shrinks down for a second, "how can I help solve this puzzle?"

"You just stay here," Alice demands after she rises back up. "Be ready to move to the right platform when I tell you to."

She jumps onto a nearly-invisible space before I can object, and then shrinks down to navigate some complex walkway that leads her to the first chain-link platform. When she gets near that, she rises back up just long enough to toss a Bomb onto the platform. Then, she runs and jumps back across the walkway as I hear a loud _clack-clack-clack_ of chains.

"Get to the right side!" Alice shouts to me as she reaches me. I run over there, and see that platform slowly rise up to where we need to be. I make a mist-enhanced leap onto the platform, and it stops rising once I land on it. Alice jumps and twirls up to me a second later, and the platform starts to drop from our combined weight. We both jump off and up to the next pathway before the Bomb explodes.

"Well," Alice says with a huff, "That's how these thing work. Understand?"

"Yeah," I reply as we walk through another tight corridor, "but I don't like them."

We enter the next area just as I say that, and I snort as I see two more of these platforms. There's also some Drifting Ruin, which we take out easily enough. Some of them hide their masks for a long time, but that just gives us a chance to breathe and regain our wits.

Once the last Drifting falls, we turn our focus to the chain-link platforms. Once again, they're separated from each other, but they both lead to different areas of a wooden space on a higher level than our current point. A wooden wall blocks off easy access to the right side, but there's a Shrinking Violet on the left side that looks easy enough to reach.

"Any ideas, Alice?" I ask as I turn to her, and then look down when I see she's using her Shrink Sense. "You are the expert on these things."

"I've got a thought," she says after she grows back to normal size. "You stick on this side, and watch for that platform to rise up. There's a Shrink Sense marking saying this platform here should have a bomb on it, but I'm going to try something different first."

"Go ahead," I answer, and Alice teleports past me in a flurry of blue butterflies. A few seconds later, the platform suddenly starts to rise with loud _clacks_. I only leap up to it when it gets some ways above where I stand. Once there, the wooden platform is just a simple jump away. The Shrinking Violet is here, but there's also a Liddel memory on a nearby balcony without railings. Alice should get that, so I wait for her to get here.

This turns out to be a nail-biting situation when the Bomb on the right platform explodes. She teleports down the path as fast as she can, and jumps without a moment's pause. I step back as she jumps up, and up again. Three quick twirls in the air give her enough lift to land beside me on alll fours.

"Well done, Alice," I say as I clap my skeletal hands together. "Well done!"

She stands with heavy breaths, and walks into the Violet. The petals pulse around her when she shrinks down, and she spends a few seconds inside before she breaks herself free. With a clean appearance, she walks over to the Liddel memory and shatters it with a touch.

" _All those undergraduates waiting for a word from Papa,_ " Lizzie says with an angry snort. " _'Might I hold the tea cozy, Sir?' 'Might I pour, Sir?' Bunch of toadies!_ "

"A good word for them, toadies," Alice replies. When she sees my confused look, she explains; "The undergraduates hung around our house in the hopes of marrying Lizzie, which they couldn't do without Papa's blessing. So, they tried to earn his favor by doing simple tasks for him." She frowns as she then states, "Dr. Bumby was among those 'toadies', actually."

I blink at that last stentence; how long has Dr. Bumby known the Liddel family? I don't get an answer as Alice jumps back down to the first wood area we were on. I follow her down, and she tosses a Bomb onto the nearby platform to lower it down. We then both dash across to the right side, and jump on _that_ raised platform to reach the next path out of this room.

The moment we enter the new room, the wall behind us seals shut. I swallow a lump in my throat as I look around to find a way forward.

A red switch shines as it hangs on a distant wooden wall, but there's nothing here that can help us reach it. That is, nothing immediately visible; after I shrink down, I see a set of invisible platforms that move around in a sequence to the switch, and then back towards us. We hop on the same platform, and grow back to normal size as we ride it over to the switch. Alice peppers it while I cover my nose, but we start going back around before the switch turns green.

The switch's activation makes a spiked wall rise up to our left, but the floor there is also full of spikes. I look around for another way through, and don't find one. I then shrink down to see an invisible platform over the spiked floor. Alice also notices it because she's the first of us to jump over there. I follow with a mist-fueled leap, and we both land right above the black, pointy objects.

' _The Dollmaker must be toying with us,_ ' I think as we walk into a large set of corridors, springs, spikes, and switches. ' _This maze is worse than the pipe-maze in the Domain, or the room-trick the Queen used against me. Neither of them had threats of imminent death right below your feet!_ '

* * *

It takes several minutes for Alice and I to come up with a plan to get through this area, mainly because all the things we need to do are separated by gaps that we need to jump across. So, we'll have to work faster at each part to get it done.

I stand on a nearby Pressure Pad, which causes some spikes on a nearby fleshy floor to retract. A switch also swings into view in the distance, but we'll have to get onto the fleshy floor to shoot at it. Everything's ready to go and do it, but Alice doesn't move. Instead, she looks at me, and then the Pad, with a slight frown.

"I remember what the Queen said about you helping me," she then says. "I'd like to see how I do on my own with these puzzles. Step off the Pad, please."

"You're trusting the Queen? After she tried to brainwash me, and eat us both?" I ask, honestly confused by her decision. "Why? We've done so well together."

"Just do as I say," she snaps back. "If I don't do this successfully, then it'll be my fault for going at it alone. I just want to improve my skills with these puzzles. You can stick by me, or stay right here, I don't care."

I suppress a growl as I step just off the Pad. The spikes come back up, and the switch rotates out of sight. Alice bumps me aside as she places a Bomb onto the Pad, and quickly makes her way over to the fleshy floor. The Bomb ticks six times as Alice shoots the switch; at that point, I swallow my pride and leap over to her location.

The switch doesn't activate anything I can see in the few seconds we have, and I say silent as I get over to another Pressure Pad atop a small wooden platform. Alice detonates the Bomb via remote, and then tosses another one from within her dress onto this new Pad. She runs down a small wooden path, and leaps to another fleshy floor to fire at a new switch. I keep up with her as quickly as I can, and see the second switch opens a pair of glass doors back where the _first_ Pad was.

Alice jumps to a spring that rests on a very small wooden beam above the abyss below us, and lands back where the first Pad was. She looks back at me, and widens her eyes when she sees where I am. The Bomb gives a _ding-ding-ding_ , and I quickly jump to the spring. The ticking device explodes before I land back beside Alice where we first were, but I don't get harmed by anything.

"Don't tell me you're letting your pride get ahead of our goals," she angrily says as she draws another Bomb from her dress. "This is my choice alone to make."

I cross my arms over my chest and don't say a word. She mutters something under her breath before she tosses the Bomb onto the Pad. The spikes from before lower, and she jumps over to where we've already been. I glance at the Bomb as it wiggles on the Pad, and leap after Alice. As much as I don't want her to get hurt, the fear I'll be left alone in this place is stronger.

Alice twirls to a new fleshy space that rests alone against the darkness. I have to wait for her to get off that space before I make my jump.

The bomb _ding-ding-dings_ while I'm in midair. I land without getting impaled, but the spikes spring up just as my feet leave the space. I hear a loud _rip_ as my robe falls into tatters. I flail, naked, in midair, and just grab onto the edge of where I want to be. I hold that position for a moment, and then heave myself up in shame and relief.

When I look to Alice, she keeps her eyes away from my body and rapidly points to a nearby Shrinking Violet. Her cheeks are bright red, her mouth frozen in a mix between upset and amused. This makes _my_ cheeks grow red as I run over to the purple flower, and let it envelop me. When I burst free, my robe covers my body once again, clean of all stains and burns.

"Consider that payback for when you saw my cleavage at Houndsditch," Alice remarks as I pat myself over to make sure the robe is actually back. "Now we've both seen each other's assets."

Her frank words make me blush even harder, and I almost shield my genitals with my hands like they're still exposed. Alice moves past me with smirk on her face, and I follow behind without a word.

* * *

The next area we wind up in has another long gap; we both shrink down to find another intricate walkway of invisible platforms that we have to cross. This doesn't prove too hard; the platforms don't move around while we're on them. But, I think the lack of colors is getting to me. The Dollhouse I remember, which I suppose is the upper area, is vibrant and full of life. Here, all the color is gone.

Some Slithering Ruin serve to calm me down as I smash them to bits. They come out from beneath some breakable walls, which Alice then smashes to find teeth and bottles.

"You know," I ask as a sudden thought comes to me, "I don't think I ever asked what the bottles are for."

"You didn't," Alice replies as she collects a golden bottle from inside one of the walls. "Basically, if I collect enough of them, their contents form a picture. What, did you think these were actually full of alcohol?"

I shrug my shoulders for an answer, and she collects them all without any further comments. Compared to our ultimate goal, what's inside a bottle doesn't seem so important.

We teleport through a pair of crushers that pound down in opposite sequence to each other, and wind up in a large, dark space. A distortion in the air right front of us signals a Dollgirl's arrival, just as multiple Ruin blotches collectively spawn a pack of Insidious Ruin. The Dollgirl quickly swipes the blunt end of a scissor half into my face, and I fly back into a group of Insidious on the far side of the room. The pain jolts me into action, and I summon the Fire Whip as Insidious claws dig into my body.

The Whip's flames crackle to life as I lurch to my feet and lash out everywhere I can. Seeral Insidious catch fire, or stumble back, with cries of pain. I feel wounds throb across my waist and chest as I snap the Whip, draw it back, and snap again. Each snap creates a shower of sparks that trail over my foes.

Despite being on fire, the Insidious swipe at my sides and chest. I wrap the Whip around a few of them, and toss them aside. But, that's just a few out of many; the Whip doesn't seem to work well enough against large groups.

Time to change tactics.

I switch to the Automaton Hammer, and grunt as I try to spin in place with it. I suceed, and bash any nearby Insidious to bits. I stumble to the right as Ruin gets in my eyes. Each connecting strike sends a vibration through my arms, urging me to go for another spin.

When I can't feel any more vibrations, I slow my spin down enough to stop. The room whirls around, and I feel sick as I fall to my knees. I manage to look up, and smile as I see all the Ruin are gone. I don't care that I'm probably drenched in their body parts; I won, and they're dead.

A loud screech reminds me of the Dollgirl from earlier. I glance over there to see Alice — or is it Hysteria? — dig the Vorpal Blade into the doll's open chest. She slices across the heart, and then reaches in with her hands to rip out the two halves by force. The Dollgirl whimpers as it falls to the floor with milky-white goo leaking from its chest and eyes. I certainly see Hysteria for a moment when she absorbs all the rose petals and teeth the Dollgirl leaves behind.

I slowly get to my feet, the Hammer becoming a third leg. When I look back at Alice, Hysteria is gone. Alice now looks at her hands with concern. They're stained with the Dollgirl's goo, the Vorpal Blade gone. She shakes as much goo off as she can, and then clenches her hands into fists. I lock eyes with her, and I don't need to ask my question before she answers it.

"Hysteria and I have an agreement," she explains. "The Dollmaker seems to be the source of the corruption, or at the very least a major part of it. We both want him, and his enemies, dead."

"As long as you're satisfied with this 'agreement'," I state with a firm wave of my hand, "I don't mind it."

Alice nods back, and lowers her hands to her sides. I use the Hammer to smash open a Ruin-coated wall, and we step into a room with walls of pink flesh. Is it just me, or do the walls pulse like a heartbeat, as well?

Alice spots a small knot in the flesh, which turns out to be a keyhole we can go through. We do so, and find a Bumby memory alongside a Radula Room. Alice goes to the memory first, and Bumby's voice rings out as he exclaims, " _Damaged people feed on the emotions of others, Alice. Their strengths… and weaknesses._ "

I frown as I step into the Radula Room. Those words sound too precise to be good.

* * *

We step into the Hatter's arena, as I've come to call it. The White Rabbit gives his usual words, and the Hatter's declaration makes me grit my teeth; "Kill or be killed!"

Card Guards, normal and Armored, appear alongside Ice Snarks on the other end of the long table. We can't just run away, since this is a survival room, and my healing won't help me in a dire situation. I summon the Incense Cup and grind away as Alice sticks by me with the Teapot Cannon. We run and fire as best we can without breaking up.

Things start to go wrong when the Guards get knocked down; the Queen's essence revives them, even though they're no longer in Queensland. Then, the Ice Snarks get the wise idea to tunnel into the woodwork and attack us from below. I teleport away from their strikes, but then the Armored Card Guard swings at us with his halbred. We jump out of the way, but this gives enough time for the normal Guards to run at us with bared claws while the Snarks tunnel down once again!

I see Alice stick with the Cannon, even when a Guard gets up in her face and rakes its claws into her dress. She shoots that Guard in its face, which utterly melts it into a pool of undead flesh. I detach the Cup's front end, and smack an Ice Snark as it lunges at my face. The impact shatters the fish's teeth and sends it flying as more enemies come at me.

A red-colored Guard rips part of my robe off as I dodge the Armored Guard's swing, and I knock the lesser Guard with the Cup. Cold spreads over my skin as something breathes ice all over my body. The Guard revives as I force my cold limbs to move again. I teleport back several times over, but the Guard and Snark don't let up. I have just enough time to switch to the Hammer before they get to me.

One good swing into the Guard's chest stuns it, and I raise the weapons' handle up in time to block the Snark's gnashing teeth. The fish digs into the handle, so I drop the weapon and summon the Fire Whip. The Guard slashes into my side again as I spin around to face it, but I coil the Whip around its body and tug it tight.

The Guard burns faster the more I tug on the Whip, until it's nothing but a pile of ash. I force myself to spin around again despite my wounds. The Snark is on its feet, some of its teeth broken from biting into solid metal. I lash with the Whip just as it tries to breathe ice on me; the Whip is faster, and I smile as I smell burning Snark flesh.

That smile disappears when Alice cries out. I look to her as she swings the Hobby Horse into the Armored Guard; it kneels with stars around its head, unable to fight back. Alice yells out again as she jumps and spins in midair. The Horse comes down in one final, explosive blow that breaks the Guard's body into four pieces. Its blood drenches Alice's body in an instant; her hair sticks to her face as she barely stands upright.

I hobble over to her as she wipes the blood out of her eyes. We both hear the White Rabbit say his usual line, but Alice pays more attention to the two vials of Rose Paint that appear before us. The moment she absorbs them, the blood on her body melts away to reveal fresh, clean, skin and clothes.

" _We're almost there,_ " Hysteria whispers to me as my vision turns to black, " _We've spilled so much blood, our power is almost at its limit. So many more foes to kill, so much more power to gain!_ "

* * *

We step back into the Underground, and I instantly feel my mists slowly soothe away my aches and pains. The soothing feeling persists as Alice and I backtrack through the keyhole to the last spot we fought in. Once we get there, Alice blasts open another Ruin-covered wall with the Cannon, and we find a toadstool spring.

Before we take it, the Cheshire Cat pops in to say something I think we both agree with: "Threats, promises, and good intentions don't amount to action." A true statement, in my mind.

We launch ourselves up to a large glass floor made up of several panels. Below us is a winding maze of spikes, wooden platforms, fleshy bits, and other things I don't want to get involved with. I also see a golden '666' marked by a closed door on the wall.

"Ah, the Number of the Beast," Alice says when I point that number out to her. "It's a reference to the Christian Bible; some of the 'toadies' that pursued Lizzie were devout Christians who spoke about the end of all things. I only got annoyed when they tried to force Lizzie into their cause; I don't hate the religion, I just don't like people telling me what I'm _supposed_ to do."

"That's good enough," I say. I don't know anything about religions, so I stay silent as we move to the far right corner of this room.

A lever rests atop a small flight of stairs; the baby's head on top looks at us both with a frozen smile. Alice pulls the lever down, and the baby's eyes follow her action. I turn away as my gut starts to churn, and we both move back onto the glass floor. A Radcliffe memory is now open for grabs in a small alcove, so we grab it.

" _The undiscovered guilty and the wrong innocent share similar fates,_ " the man states with a more solemn tone. " _Prisons and chains have many forms._ "

"As if you'd know anything about a prison," Alice comments as she places a hand on her hip. "You've been so wrapped up in your own fortunes that you feared giving anyone else the slightest chance for success."

I let Alice mull over her family's solicitor in silence, and she then leads us back out to the glass floor. We both see a skull with some nails drilled into the top, and head over to it next.

The skull turns out to be hiding a keyhole, which we discover with our Shrink Sense. We go through it and find it winds down and around to the area beneath the glass floor. The floor now becomes a ceiling too low for us to even consider jumping, unless we want to break our skulls. All the things I had said I wouldn't get involved with are now before us.

' _Suck it up,_ ' I tell myself. ' _You've been through worse when you were on the run from the Dollmaker. Alice wasn't there that time, also._ '

We stick together as we ever-so-slowly make our way through the maze. The spikes that get in our way retract one after the other, which forces us to wait for each cycle to conclude, and the next one to begin, before we can move on. This path winds like a snake, back and forth, until we reach a set of moving wooden platforms on rails above a large set of spikes. Each platform can only fit one of us, so Alice goes ahead of me.

Alice shrinks down to enter a keyhole marked with a small '3'. I barely get inside that keyhole before the platform I stand on shifts out of range, and I race to catch up. The only thing at the end of the keyhole's path is a Pressure Pad. Alice tosses a Bomb on there, and we race right back out the way we came as the weapon ticks down. When we get back to the main area, a switch has been raised up to where we can shoot at it. Alice quickly fires pepper at it before the bomb explodes.

Of course, I start to sneeze. I rest against the wall as Alice hops onto the moving platforms. My eyes clear up long enough to see Alice slip through a glass door that wasn't open before. She hops back onto the moving platforms several seconds later, Grinder still in hand. I rub my hand along my nose and follow behind her as best I can.

We slowly move through a few more spiked spaces as they rise and fall in sequence. Then, we reach a keyhole marked with a '5'. We go through it to find another lever, and I get the impulse to pull it. Since I haven't pulled any of the levers along these puzzles before, nothing tells me to _not_ do it.

The lever doesn't budge when I pull it; even worse, the baby head attached to it screams at me like I just stabbed it in the eye.

"Fuck!" I shout as I draw my hand back. "You didn't need to scream!"

"People scream when they get upset," Alice explains before she pulls the lever herself. Nothing happens immediately around us, so we go back through the keyhole.

A glass door near the keyhole is now open, and we take the small flight of stairs that are beyond it up and out of this damnable maze. Even better, the '666' door is open, but the only thing inside there is a blue toadstool spring. I sigh in comfort as we take the spring into a blinding white light; we've made some progress, and the Dollmaker hasn't caught us yet.

That doesn't mean he may not try to do so, though…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now! The Underground is using its tricks and traps against our heroes, but they're slowly getting through it all. What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback, is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	40. As Below, So Above

**Hello, everyone! Here is the next chapter in the story. Nothing much to say, so let's just get right to it. There's a lot of ground to cover.**

 **DISCLAIMER: The 'American McGee's Alice' liscense is owned by American McGee and EA Games. I own my OC's and other custom elements.**

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

The light fades to reveal another slide that goes deeper into the Underground. The crying from earlier seems louder in my ears, or maybe whatever is making the sound got closer to us. More sharp objects, and a few dolls carved inside-out, hang from strings along the slide. Alice gets going almost instantly, since there aren't any poreclian doll heads up here for her to break. I follow quickly after her; my fear of this place hasn't been completely destroyed yet.

This slide lasts much shorter than any other before it. It doesn't even split into multiple paths, like just about all the others. But, it still does have bubbling Ruin blotches that we must avoid, and I still have to be careful with my speed to avoid falling off into the darkness. I don't have much time to think about anything before we land in a larger wooden space with more chain-link platforms.

Bitch Babies fly towards us from the darkness and I quickly summon the Hammer. I hear Alice charge up her Cannon as I move the Hammer into 'RM' and take a knee. We each fire at a different Baby, but they actually doge our strikes this time; they're learning. I quickly switch to the Cup and start firing away, and Alice does the same with the Grinder. The Babies don't move this time, and they fall down to the chain-link platforms instead of at us.

Acid sprays onto my robe as another Baby's projectile barely misses me. I turn to face it and fire another round of incense; it dodges away from after a few hits. I wait until it starts to hack up another acid ball before I fire again. I kill it just after it spits at me. I then teleport as far back as I can to avoid taking more damage. I glance over at Alice to see her break the last Baby apart with pepper bullets. We both wait a moment as I quickly walk back to Alice, but no new enemies come at us for now.

Alice turns her focus to the chain-link platforms, and seems to have a plan much quicker than last time. These platforms don't have any special tricks, and there are some vents between them. The one on the left rests at about our level, so Alice drops a Bomb onto it with ease before she jumps on that same platform. She only stays on for a second before she jumps to the vents and rides their currents up to the other platform, and then up to the wooden space nearby. I follow her steps a second later, but I have to tuck my legs in to avoid slamming my knees onto the platform's side.

A set of stairs to the side lead down from here, and some breakable doll heads rest in a small stack. Alice doesn't instantly smash them this time, but eventually chooses to do so. I recall she had said that 'Hollow Yves' was satisfied with how much teeth she had collected so far. Does this mean she no longer has a need for the teeth, even though they keep appearing?

We move onward to find another lever before a glass window that shows where we just were. I stay well away from the lever as Alice pulls it over. This causes a door to open… on the opposite side of the glass. There's no way I can see to get up to the door, unless we break the glass in front of us to try and jump over.

"Step aside," I order Alice as I summon the Hammer. She does so once she sees what I'm about to do, and I swing the Hammer into the glass wall to try and shatter it. The wall just bounces my attack right back at me, and I fly into a wooden wall behind me, Hammer still in my hands. I then crash to the floor with a muffled, "Ouch."

I hear Alice stifle a laugh as I get to my feet, the room shaky to my eyes. It clears after a moment, and I dismiss the Hammer as I accept that we'll have to backtrack to get to where we need to go. Alice leads the way back down the stairs, and the familiar _snort_ of a Snout makes us both pause. Alice rushes down the stairs before I can make a move, so I wait for her to come back. She doesn't take very long, and looks kind of disappointed at what she found.

That disappointment changes to a smile after she squints her eyes at the space above the first chain-link platform. She then turns to me with the words, "I have an idea." This both excites and worries me.

She quickly explains her plan: there's an invisible path that we can take to the newly-opened door, but we have to go back to the first chain-link platform so she can place a Bomb there to lower it. Then, we'll have to run across the invisible path to the second platform when it reaches its highest point. Since our weight will be greater than the Bomb's, we will only have moments to jump to our destination. It sounds like a good plan, and I didn't have any plan to begin with, so I accept it.

We jump, or leap, back to where we first came in so Alice can begin the plan. The Bomb is tossed, and the platform begins to drop. We jump on it one after the other, and I follow Alice's steps as quick as I can as she dashes along a very narrow invisible path. I spread my arms out to keep from falling, and try not to look down. We reach the second platform as the Bomb dings out its final seconds.

Alice jumps onto the platform, and then quickly jumps and twirls to reach the wooden space. The Bomb explodes just as I land onto the second platform, which causes it to drop much faster. I focus my mists as the moments tick by, and then leap up with outstretched hands. I let out a relieved breath as I manage to grab onto the wooden edge of where we wanted to end up, and then heave myself up to Alice's side.

"About that plan," I ask with my hands on my knees as I take a few deep breaths, "Wouldn't you consider that cheating?"

"If it _is_ cheating," she replies with a smirk, "then it's a cheat I have wanted to exploit since these things came up in Queensland."

She keeps her smile as I take a few more moments to regain my composure. We then move through the open door into a narrow space filled with crushers. They each strike down onto flesh just after each other, which warps the sound they each make. I scrunch up my nose as this new sound vibrates badly in my ears.

The crusher's pattern requires us to move very fast through them all to get through. Alice goes first, and she has to teleport at some points to make it through. I follow through at top speed once she makes it across, and I almost slip on the flesh before I get across. For the second time in the last few minutes, I need to take a moment to recover my breath. Alice doesn't seem to mind, but she doesn't look as winded as I do.

We smash through another breakable wall as a loud _clip-clip_ comes from across a dimly-lit corner. My gut twists as I picture something dangerous that could clip us in half, but our first problem are the new set of crushers in our way. They move horizontally over a black abyss, moving back and for the several times before they finally strike. Alice counts the seconds that pass for each crusher with her fingers as the clipping sound continues.

Alice takes the lead across the crushers, jumping to each one just after it strikes to have the best chance of landing. I start my run when she makes it over a couple, but the crushers shift beneath me as I move across. I end up moving back and forth with the crushers, adjusting my jumps with each shift. The worst part is when we have to jump around the corner, from one crusher to another.

I gasp in midair as the crusher I jump to vanishes for a second, but then reappears just when I can land on it. Fear makes me jump wildly until we reach a wooden space that doesn't move around. I place a hand to my chest as I, once again, sigh in relief, but the clipping sound still rings in my ears. The source of that sound hangs on an upper wal: a pair of scissors that point up to the ceiling. I don't see what pulls the strings to make them open and close over and over, and I frankly don't care.

Alice smashes open a breakable wall, and there's a Pad inside. The Cheshire Cat appears on the Pad long enough to give Alice a message: "Saving Wonderland means saving yourself." He then winks at me, to which I blink back in confusion. Is he implying I need to know that statement, too?

* * *

Alice moves onto the Pad, and I turn around to see the effects it has. All it does is bring out another wooden crusher that _doesn't_ move around. I hear Alice place a Bomb down, and I take the lead by jumping to the crusher before she comes back out. From here, I very quickly spot the next wooden space we need to go to.

Once I land up there, I wait for Alice to come up, and she detonates the Bomb via remote. We navigate another row of crushers with the same care as before, and end up next to a diagram of a bird with its wings spread screwed onto the wall. Beside that diagram is a wooden slope that winds up, and around, the central wooden beam for this room.

I let Alice go first, and we come across another gap that reaches the top point of the glass shaft we jumped through a few minutes ago. The problem here is that those scissors poke up into where we need to jump. If we aren't careful, we could have a toe or two cut off in midair. Alice jumps across first, just when the scissors snap open, and she twirls twice to get across the gap. I take a few steps back as the clipping starts to dig into my eardrums, and then leap across as far as I can.

My toes tingle as I fly over the gap and land on the others side. When I look at my feet, the toes are all there and accounted for. I stand up as Alice smashes another stone wall, and we find ourselves on a glass space above the long row of quickly-striking crushers. Their upper ends are mad of smooth wood that rise and fall below us, but they don't get in our way. A few Slithering Ruin drop from the black ceiling above us, but we easily take them out with Whip and Blade.

We leave the crushers behind to enter a room divided into several square sections of what looks like plaster or carpet. The air here smells sharp, the surface beneath us creaking with each step we take. Then, a piece of the low-hanging ceiling right by us crashes down to the floor, taking out that section with it.

"The room's collapsing," I quickly shout as I see nothing but darkness where that section used to be. "We need to get out of here!"

"Wait!" Alice places a hand out before I can make a break for the open doorway in the distance. "If we run, we'll just set off a chain reaction. We need to move slowly. Stay close." I look to Alice, and her determined expression overpowers my desire to make a dash to the exit. I nod in acceptance, and we start to slowly walk across the collapsing room.

Every second we walk through here makes my heart pound wildly in my chest. Some of the areas we are just about to step onto collapse before our eyes, while others break apart just as we pass them by. We have to shift left and right as more and more sections vanish; our path soon becomes narrow enough that we have to balance carefully on the wooden beams between each section to make any progress.

We eventually make it over, and the room throws one last scare my way when the section right behind us collapses. I feel my body start to fall back, and I instantly shrink down to try and keep my body up where it should be. I also notice a small keyhole to my left, hidden behind a skull with nails screwed into its head. I point this out to Alice when I revert back to normal size, and we head through it to see what it has to offer.

We step out into a small wooden space that hangs against the Underground's infinite darkness. A larger set of stairs, held in place by several strings, is to our right, but we can get there through the main door. There's a Dr. Wilson memory here, which Alice quickly touches to hear what her old caretaker has to say.

" _The gulf separating effective treatment from quackery is narrower than professional opinion would admit,_ " the older man reluctantly states. " _Likewise, the distance between knowledge and ignorance._ "

Alice raises her eyebrows at this comment, but doesn't say a word as we travel back to the main door. We then walk up the main set of stairs, the strings keeping the stairs taut for us as we go through a square-shaped hole in the wall.

This large space has a few raised wooden objects that curve out of the floor. I gleam one use for them when a large group of enemies appears to fight us. A Dollboy joins a Dollgirl, Bitch Babies join Drifting Ruin in the air, and Insidious Ruin rise up from the room's corners. I shiver as I suspect the Dollmaker wants to get rid of us while we're still in his prison.

* * *

Alice and I quickly separate to avoid the airborne foe's fire. I teleport over to the right and crouch down behind a raised bit of wood. I summon the Cup as I try to figure out a battle plan. Against this many foes, even with Alice alongside me, I don't want to just charge in there and start swinging. I need to think smart, like Alice does in these kinds of fights.

An Insidious Ruin wanders into my sight and I teleport around it before firing incense into its little black body. It falls to bits after a few seconds as spiked Ruin balls and acid start to rain down around me. I backpedal away as I turn my fire on the airborne foes, hitting the Drifting Ruin first when they show their faces. In the meantime, I keep glancing at the positon of the Dollboy as it skips over to me, and teleport away only when it gets too close.

I resume my fire once I reform. A Bitch Baby almost instantly rams itself into my face and sprays its acid into my eyes. I scream as I drop the Cup and cover my face with my hands. I hear the Dollboy's stomps as it approaches, so I run away from it. I quickly bump into a raised wooden surface, my mists covering my cheeks even as I feel the skin start to peel away from acid burn. I don't want to know how my face looks as my vision clears up, but I get a good look at the Dollboy's face when it finally grabs me.

I try to struggle free but his hold is too tight. He opens his mouth like he's about to eat me. I shut my eyes and shrink down, which actually breaks me free from his grip. I land on the floor and snap my eyes open before rolling quickly to one side. The Dollboy stomps the ground where I just was, and I spring to my feet with shaking hands. I summon the Ice Wand and try to fire a few bolts at the foes still in the air, but my shots streak off into the darkness.

The Dollboy moves to rip a nail out of his face, and I channel the Wand's magic into a sphere in response. I hear Alice grunt loudly as the Dollgirl giggles; she must be having as hard a time as I am.

I launch my sphere at the arm now holding the nail, and the limb turns into a solid block of ice. The Dollboy looks at it without doing anything, which is all the time I need to fire a few more bolts into its chest. It steps back before cradling its chest with its other arm, and I teleport back to where I dropped the Incense Cup. Two Insidious Ruin guard it from me, but I reform behind them and grab the weapon before they can turn around. Two swings of the Cup's chain take care of them, parts of their body joining the acid marks on my robe.

I glance over the battlefield and judge how well we've done so far. One last Bitch Baby joins a Drifting Ruin in the air, and they both focus on Alice as she tries to get away from the Dollgirl. Four Insidious Ruin scuttle towards me as the Dollboy comes out of its defensive state. I switch over to the Whip to drive the Ruin back, and run across the area until I get closer to Alice's location.

Once over there, I lash the Whip at the Drifting Ruin's exposed mask. The whole creature instantly catches fire and it falls to the ground, defeated. The Bitch Baby darts back out of my range, and I turn back to the Dollboy as it starts to stomp over towards me. The raised areas of wood force it, and the Insidious Ruin alongside it, to walk a longer distance. I have a few seconds before they get close enough to be a problem.

I switch back to the Cup and fire a few shots at the Baby. It gets hit, and starts to sputter as it falls out of control. I teleport to the side, right past the foes approaching me, and end up a few paces behind them. The Baby explodes somewhere far away from me as the Insidious Ruin spin around and charge at me. Fire streams from their backs, and I respond with streams of incense from the Cup as I whirl Caterpillar's artifact around in a flurry of swings.

The incense soon shrouds everything around me in a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke that makes the burns on my face tingle with an alarming sharpness. I wipe out each Ruin within the cloud, one at a time, as it tries to find where I am. I also sense the Dollboy in the cloud, his larger size making him easier to detect within the smoke.

Then, the smoke turns into roaring flames. I teleport out of the cloud, but I still feel my body burn up as the fire turns into falling sparks of heat. The Dollboy lets out another fiery breath, but its own body is covered in these sparks. I quickly glance over to where Alice last was, and see her blast the Dollgirl's remaining arm off with a tea grenade. I don't get any more time to look around before the Dollboy turns to face me with its unblinking eyes.

An idea clicks in my head as I teleport back until I hit the wooden wall behind me. I switch to the Hammer's 'RM' with the hopes that the incense on the Dollboy has an explosive quality. I've never seen the little specks of incense be on fire before, so this idea will either work wonderfully or fail spectacularly. Whichever case, I'm willing to try it; I've been fighting this boy for long enough.

I prop up my shot, charge it, and fire as the Dollboy rips out a nail from inside its face. My shot hits it in the forehead, and his whole head blows apart with a huge explosion. I shield my eyes as I feel the heat reach across the room in a smothering embrace. When I look again, the Dollboy's body lies inert on the ground as steam rises from where its neck used to be.

I suddenly feel tired; it's probably all the wounds I took in this fight, all the enemies I've killed. I force myself to move when I remember Alice is still fighting her own battle. When I look over to see how she's doing, she has the Dollgirl's chest broken open as she slams into it with the Hobby Horse. The girl screeches as her heart shatters, and falls to the wooden floor as teeth and rose petals fly out of her corpse.

Alice falls to her knees as her body absorbs some of the teeth. I stumble over to her as I reflect on what we've just done. It seemed like Alice had to fight quite hard against the Dollgirl, but she was probably distracted by some Insidious Ruin, as well as the Drifting Ruin and Bitch Babies that didn't come after me. I'm sure she fought with all her strength, and that's why she won. She didn't have to use new ideas like I did, even though that turned out good for me this time around.

Alice soon gets to her feet and stumbles over to a lever that I can barely see around a corner. She tugs it down, and a loud screech makes my ears ring as a giant square box comes down to us from far above with a shower of sparks. The box seems attached to rails via a set of wheels, and the doors open on their own to reveal a bland interior with no real decoration.

"Get in the box," Alice wearily shouts to me as she stumbles back over to me. "It'll get us out of this hellhole." Joy at finally escaping this prison makes me quickly move inside the box, and Alice is able to come in on her own. The bright lights inside the box reveal to me the many scars and bruises she now has across her body. Most of them don't seem serious, but there's just so many that she must be in real pain.

Despite her injuries, Alice has enough strength to slam her fist against a button on a panel near where she stands. The box's doors close, and I fall to the floor as we suddenly rise straight up. My stomach feels like it's in my legs, and I have to keep myself from vomiting all over the cool metal floor we stand on. I wanted to escape the Underground, but this feels like a terrible way to do it.

* * *

The box soon comes to a sharp stop. The doors slide open as I try to calm my turbulent stomach. Instead, I clutch my ears and moan as a sharp vibration rings through my bones. It only lasts for a second, but it rings in a repeating pattern. Alice has to help me walk out into the Dollhouse's colorful light because my legs refuse to cooperate.

The source of this noise is soon found out; a set of floating blocks moves in a tight circle, the vibrations coming each time they shift around. Beyond those blocks is a giant doll's head that looks very similar to the Dollboy's head. A wooden path stretches through its ears, and another platform rests at a height we can't yet reach.

Before we make a move, the Cheshire Cat pops in just to give another message to us; "Annihilate what threatens to destroy you both!" That makes sense, considering the foe's we've faced have all wanted to annihilate _us_.

By this point, the vibrations start to blend with a throbbing in my head. It takes a colossal effort to ignore the pain and focus on other things. Alice helps me walk forward, but I have to make myself jump onto the moving blocks, and then off them again. Once I land by the doll's ear, the pain fades away a little bit, which helps me walk through the tight passageway without bumping against the walls of this head's inner ear.

A Pressure Pad and a Shrinking Violet await us when we reach the higher platform, as well as two other floating platforms that lead behind the wall of a nearby house. I guess I'm on the same thought pattern as Alice right now, because we both go to the platforms after Alice heals up through the Violet. The pain in my head is enough to ignore the pain of my previous wounds, and even blocks out the soothing touch of my mists. Nevertheless, we slowly jump over to the back corner, and enter an open Radula Room.

* * *

We step into the Hatter's arena, once again. The Rabbit says his two bits, and then the Hatter's declaration is announced: "Survive the passage of time!"

'Survive' turns out to be a very strong word as I see the Executioner rise up from the woodwork like he was never hurt at all. Samurai Wasps, and Ink Wasps, join his presence, but I just stare at the Queen's best minion with wide eyes as he spins his might scythe in his hands. I saw him get crushed under Alice's giant-sized boot; how the _fuck_ is he still alive?!

"Run," Alice shouts to me as the Wasps fly at us. "Just run!" I don't blame her for wanting to stay away from this fight, and I pump my arms and legs to keep up with her.

The Executioner's booming laugh rings across the arena. The _thud_ of his steps breaks through the buzzing of several Wasp wings. We dash around the edge of the circular arena, stopping only to smash Ink Tablets apart so more Ink Wasps can't spawn.

The Wasps soon split up and come at us from in the front and back, which forces us to race through the center of the arena to avoid any combat. Unfortunately, the Executioner is waiting there to lop our heads off. We have to choose between which enemy we have to face, and Alice goes towards the center. I am forced to follow so I don't become overwhelmed.

The Executioner grunts as he slices at us, and I hear the whistle of the blade pass over my head as I duck down. We run past the tentacle-covered minion before he can swing at us again, and he moves too slow to catch up with us. His bellow of rage doesn't give much comfort as two Samurai Wasps and three Ink Wasps zip at us with raised blades.

I teleport away from these flying enemies before they can strike, and summon the Incense Cup in an attempt to reduce their numbers. The Samurai use their blades to block most of my shots, but they lose concentration when Alice adds the Grinder into the mix. The Ink Wasps then get up in our faces and latch onto our bodies so we have to smash them off before we do anything else. I certainly don't appreciate the way things are going here; how much time is left before we 'survive'?

A Wasp's blade tears into my robe, and tears off a chunk around my left arm. That sleeve now hangs in tatters as I jump back and run away once again. Alice is a pace behind me, and I keep glancing back to see how close the pursuing insects are to us. They quickly split into two groups, one going the opposite way around the arena we are.

I hear Alice shout, "Into the center!" and I comply with her command. The Executioner raises his scythe as he blocks our path forward. There's no way around him, and I slow down as I try to figure out a way out of this trap. Enemies ahead of me, enemies behind me, a chaotic abyss to either side of me; where am I supposed to go to be safe?!

I lean to one side as the Executioner swings his scythe down. The metal digs into the wood, and I fall on all fours. I get back up as the giant tugs at his scythe, and he brings it out with a quick laugh. My feet push me forward as I hear the Wasp's buzzing right behind me. Alice charges right at the Executioner as he raises a foot to stomp on Alice.

Time slows down as I feel metal graze my back, as the Executioner's foot falls… and then they all vanish. I whirl around in surprise, but there's nothing behind me. We survived; we actually survived the passage of time. I'm kind of shocked we did it, even though we did it just fine before now.

The White Rabbit says the same lines as before, and two more vials of Rose Paint appear before Alice. I get over to her just as she absorbs the vials, and the arena instantly starts to go dark as I take a few deep breaths.

" _It's almost time,_ " Hysteria tells us both from the blackness that flows over my body, " _The last trial is near. We must be ready…_ "

* * *

The painful sensations take up less of my mind when we step back into the Dollhouse, even though I just ran for my life in the Radula Room. I can move on my own, and I follow Alice as we head back up the platforms to the Pressure Pad from earlier. Standing on it causes another giant doll head, and some steam vents, to rise up from the wasteland below us. I look down at it as I remember just what lies beneath this pile of mismatched doll parts. I don't want to go back down there anytime soon; the fear I felt there is stronger than the pain I feel up here.

Alice, as usual, leads us across the path before us. We ride the vent's steam to get to the path through the doll's ears, and then take the next two vents to reach another large, multicolored platform with a few colored block pillars. My landing is a bit hard on my ankles, but I suspect it's nothing a bit of running will help fix. What _doesn't_ fix it is the entire platform shaking beneath us as a Colossal Ruin, and several Slithering Ruin, bubble up through the fabric.

"You must be joking…" I mutter as the Colossal Ruin roars at us. Between this foe and the two kinds of giant dolls, I don't know which one is worse. At least the pillars here will provide some color if this monstrosity decides to start lobbing Ruin balls at us. Instead, it quickly moves towards us with rhythmic undulations of its mouth. I run to the right, and it actually comes after me. The pillars don't slow it down very much, but it gives me some room to try and think of a good way to kill this thing.

I don't see Alice as I run away from the giant Ruin, which worries me. The Slithering Ruin aren't much of a threat on their own, are they? Maybe she's been swarmed by them, like I thought we were going to be in that one dark room? Are they gnawing at her hands and legs right now, like they did to me?!

I realize I just doomed myself when I suddenly get lifted off the ground and dropped into a bubbling maw of Ruin. I scream and struggle as the Colossal Ruin tries to swallow me whole, the toothless 'mouth' around me crushing me over and over. The beast tries to swallow me three times before it spits me out. I land in a pool of several things that make my gut churn in disgust. The pain from before joins with the terrible smell of all these things, and I realize my body is frozen in place.

A warm batch of tea washes away some of the sensations while also freeing my limbs up from their stupor. The Ruin growls as I get up and run as far away as I can. I now see Alice with the Cannon in her hands. She fires a second tea grenade, and then a third, in quick succession as I run past her. I slowly look around once I reach the platform's edge, but only Alice and the ever-hungry abomination remain.

Alice keeps the Ruin focused on her by shooting its faces with pepper and tea; she swaps between either weapon when the other overloads, and it returns to normal when she summons it again. The Ruin doesn't move towards me, or even launch a projectile my way as Alice shoots each face to bits all on her own. I just stand and stare at this back-and-forth between these two powerful beings, still amazed at how much skill Alice has in her own world.

The Ruin shifts to its second stage, and barrels towards me like it's the front end of the Infernal Train. I teleport away as far as I can as Alice launches grenade after grenade into our foe's face. I don't have enough strength to summon any weapon to help her, so I just stay to the sidelines of this fight. I feel disappointment at not having the chance to battle, but common sense overrides that disappointment.

After Alice leads the Ruin on three loops around the arena, it finally lowers its head to the floor. Its small arms dangle in the air as it stops its endless stream of fire and screaming hatred. Alice teleports up to it and uses the Vorpal Blade in a five-slash combo that almost completely cracks the Ruin's mask open. _Almost_.

The Ruin rises back up, and resumes its fire and noise as Alice teleports to one side. She uses the Cannon to fire more grenades into the creature's cracked mask, and she only has to take one loop around the arena this time before she gets the chance to really harm it. She uses the Blade to finally shatter the Ruin's mask, and it gives a piercing howl as it melts back into the fabric. Against the odds, Alice won this fight for us both.

* * *

I blow my nose onto my robe as I smell some excess Ruin in my nostril. Alice comes over to me with a red face and a wild glint in her eyes. Some part of her, maybe Hysteria, clearly enjoyed working up a sweat in that fight. What matters most to me is that she's alive, and relatively undamaged. The Ruin certainly didn't get the chance to eat _her_ this time around.

"Uh…" I say as I realize I've been staring at Alice in silence, "thanks. You know, for saving me from being eaten again."

"You're welcome," Alice replies with a smile. "You can repay me when we come under a threat just as dangerous, or worse." I bite my lip as I realize I might be unable to do that, but I remain silent as we both turn to face the next challenge.

Two large doll heads rest on giant wooden poles that stretch down into the wasteland below, one of whom looks very similar to the Dollgirl we've faced in combat. The first head is too high to jump to from where we are; if we could lower it down, we could run through the path between its ears to a small wooden platform with a Pressure Pad on it. Another Pad is next to us, and Alice tosses a Bomb onto it to see what will happen.

What happens is that the first doll head lowers down like how I wanted it to. Alice leads the way up to the doll's ear, but our passage through the head is cut short when a spiked swing suddenly passes by where we need to jump from. I clench my fist as we lose precious seconds waiting for the swing to get out of our way. I make it past just as the Bomb explodes, and I land on the small platform as the head starts to rise up to its former position.

Alice quickly tosses a second Bomb onto the new Pad, and the second doll head lowers down to a point where it could be reached from the first head. Unfortunately, the first head is in its original position, which doesn't end anywhere close to the second head's new position. Alice curses as she detonates the Bomb remotely, and I watch the second head move back to its prior state in confusion.

"We need to keep the second head down, and the first head up, in order to get to that top platform," she quickly explains without looking at me. "This will require two Bombs; I'll go back to the first Pad to get things started. You get ready to move from here when I say the word."

"You sure this requires such a precise alignment?" I ask out of a desire to know whether there's an easier solution or not. "This seems quite… intricate."

"It's my plan, and I'm sticking with it," Alice snaps back. "Just let me do this." I keep my mouth shut as Alice leaps and twirls back to the large battlefield we just left, and places another Bomb on the Pad there. The first head lowers back down, and she moves across with reckless speed. She barely avoids getting impaled by the spiked swing.

Once she lands, she detonates the first Bomb just before she tosses a new one onto the Pad next to me. With a shout of, "Move!" she then turns around and leaps back toward the first head as it starts to rise up while the second head comes down. I leap with a mist-fueled jump, and the spiked swing whooshes by in front of me before I land inside the pathway. Alice is now already at the path's end, and she leaps up to the second head's ear as I see my chances are fading away by the second.

I leap just as the second head's path starts to move out of reach, and crash into Alice as she stands by that path's edge. We land on our sides inside the second head just as the Bomb explodes; the second head instantly starts moving up and over as we both get to our feet. We get off when the head stops, Alice's plan successful after all.

A small slide with the same design as in the old Vale of Tears brings us down, and around, a set of windows. We land atop a small hill, a familiar set of wooden spikes blocking off certain areas of a large clearing in front of us. I feel a smile grow on my face as I look up to see Fort Resistence, my old home, once again.

My smile drops as I then see massive holes in the colored walls, and the gate thrown to the ground. Smoke trails from one of the front windows, and the center roof is missing its pointed tip. The air is quiet, far too quiet for anything good to have happened while we were gone…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. What has happened to Fort Resistence while our heroes were gone? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **As usual, any reviews/comments/constructive criticism/feedback is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	41. Vengeance Unbound

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **Just so you know, this chapter has got more combat, and a bit of a 'darker side' for my OC. Keep watch for it, and let me know what you think.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series is owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not shown in the final game.

* * *

"No…" I mutter over and over as I stumble up to the fort, "no… how did this… when did this…?"

I can't form a coherent sentence; my tongue flops around when I try to ask the big question. Of course, there's a very obvious answer, but I refuse to accept it. I cling onto any shred of hope that pops in my head, desperate to find something good amidst all this destruction.

Before we get to the toppled gate, Alice grabs my shoulder and points at a keyhole beneath the fort's ramp. We shrink through it, and wind up beneath the floorboards of the fort. My throat locks up when I don't see any of the Children here. This was one of the first hiding places Alicia and I selected if the Fort was destroyed. Did the Children just not have time to hide here, or did they look for another place farther away?

The white syringe of a Dr. Wilson memory breaks through the darkness. Alice shatters the memory, and the light instantly cuts out. Dr. Wilson quietly speaks from the darkness: " _The signs of the body's illness or infirmity are obvious compared to those of the diseased mind. And the cures? How and when a broken leg heals is clear… Can one heal a broken mind? How does one know if it's healed?_ "

I don't want to hear this. My mind is already diseased by the fear that my oldest friends are dead, or worse. We go back out the keyhole, and walk up the fort's ramp. The toppled gate serves as a creaky bridge as we enter what used to be my home. It doesn't feel like home, anymore.

"Alicia!" I call out as I furtively look at every possible corner. "Children! Where are you? It's me, Kyle! Your old friend! Your right-wing dimwit! Come on out, it's safe!"

I run ahead of Alice in my search. I lift up any discarded toy and shift aside any solitary block I can find. One of these must have a cowering Child behind or underneath it. They can't all be gone. They can't be.

Footsteps on wood reach my ears, and I turn to the back wall. Alice walks up the wooden slope there, and goes to the Fort's second level. I stay on the first floor and continue my search. I don't find anything else.

My hope weakens, but I don't give up. Maybe they had time to leave something for me to find? A message, perhaps, something to direct me to them.

"Come on, come on," I mutter as I continue to search without any results, "there has to be something. Please, one of you be here!"

My right eye begins to twitch on its own as I still find nothing. There has to be something. There _has_ to be!

I turn around as I hear Alice comes back down the ramp. She holds something in her hands; a facedown, frail, limp body with brown hair, and wearing a white robe.

I dash over to Alice, and trip over my feet. I land hard, but spring right back up. I need to see what Alice is holding.

When I stand next to Alice, at the bottom of the ramp, she somberly, silently, hands the body to me. It's light enough for me to carry standing up, but I choose to sit down. My hands shake as I turn the body face-up.

I stare into Alicia's wide, frozen eyes. Her mouth gapes open, a thick red line going straight through her neck. I give a delicate touch to the line with my thumb, and the line spurts out a few drops of blood. I press harder into the line, and it spurts out more blood. I press even harder, try to make Alicia move through sheer pain.

The line suddenly splits open. Alicia's head separates from her body, and bounces on the floor like a ball. Blood drips out of the open hole, coats my bony fingers and hand a dark red.

I look to the detached head, and then back at Alicia's headless corpse. Something drips onto her robe, stains it. More drips follow every few seconds. What's causing these drips? What's staining the robe?

Oh. It's my tears. I'm crying. I'm crying because Alicia is dead.

 _Dead_.

I wasn't there when she needed it. I've failed her, and the other Children. My friends are gone, and it's my fault.

"Oooohaaagh..."

My mental defenses fall apart as I moan in despair. All the hope I clung to evaporates in an instant. My tears fall as I press Alicia's scarred and lifeless body into my face. I breathe in without knowing why, take in her scent. She smells sweaty, and dirty, for a corpse.

Memories flash in my eyes, pictures of my time with Alicia and the other Children. It feels like ages ago, we all worked together to survive. We ran through old cities together, sticking to the shadows. We kept an eye on all the different creatures and monstrosities that wanted us dead. We sat around small fires at night and talked, talked, talked the nights away. We scavenged any weapons we could, fighting with wild strength and determination. We were mad, _insane_ , because we had to be in order to live.

That's all gone, now. This feels like a dream, and I want to wake up. I want to wake up to the Cheshire Cat's greetings, or Alice's smile, not a headless corpse that silently screams its agonies.

"It's over," I chant like a mantra. "We've lost. It's over. We've lost."

"No," Alice's voice cuts in. "It's not over."

My head turns to face the savior of Wonderland. Alice looks at Alicia's body with narrow eyes. Her closed fist shakes as she raises it to her chest. She looks so powerful, and so exposed, at the same time.

"What?" My voice sounds minuscule compared to Alice. "What do you mean, not over?"

"The Dollmaker isn't dead," Alice states. "He needs to die, if we are to win."

"The Dollmaker…" I lower my head back down. Alicia's body is cold to the touch, cold as my insides. My bony hands clench the skin and robe in a moment of confidence, but it fades just as fast. All that's left is my sorrow.

"What's the point?" I ask myself out loud. "My children, my friends, are gone."

"Then we free them," Alice answers for me, "and as many other children as we can, wherever they are. If the Dollmaker has them, we'll kill him, as well."

"He's too powerful," I mutter, not having any of Alice's focused nature. "We can't defeat him."

"He isn't invincible, or he would have fought us himself. He hasn't won, yet."

"He's already won, Alice," I slump against the wall, not wanting to move another inch. "He's already won."

"Listen to me," Alice insists. "We can stop the Dollmaker. We _will_ stop him."

"How? Why? We can't win. Why do we still have to fight him?"

Alice grabs the front of my robe, and pulls me up to her face. Alicia's body falls to the floor between us, but I don't care. I can't look Alice in the eyes, anymore.

"The only other option we have," Alice hisses through clenched teeth, "is to lie down, and die. And, I never want to die lying down like a barbaric bitch."

Alice lets me go, and I fall on my butt once again. My eyes find Alicia's severed head, still frozen in pain and terror. She died afraid of something, but she also died fighting back. Something killed her because she tried to fight back, for her friends and for Wonderland.

I shuffle along the wall, away from all this death. A new sensation trails up and down my limbs, gives me strength. My very center hums with energy, a desire to get up and do something. I stand up before I realize I've done so. My eyes never leave Alicia's head.

Childish giggles reach my ears from outside the fort; the laughter of a Dollgirl and Dollboy. My fingers wiggle. My right eye twitches. A growl bubbles along with some saliva in my mouth.

I turn around. I step outside. A Dollgirl, Dollboy, and four Bitch Babies are waiting.

My hatred, my rage, bursts to the surface as I step towards these foes. I move faster and faster until I run at them. My throat burns from my roar as I summon the Fire Whip to my hands and swing it at the giant dolls.

Fire streams out as the Whip's coils wrap around the Dollboy's left arm. I tug on that arm as I run towards him, and leap up into his face. Something whisks just by me as I raise my feet and give a solid kick into the Boy's eye. The plastic piece shatters as I fly back, flipping up and over as I wildly pull on the Whip. The Boy's arm eventually pops off, a charred remnant of its former self.

A scissor half slams into me, and I skid several feet along the ground without falling. I switch to the Hammer, and race forward. Acid lands by my feet, but I just run right through it. I need to kill these creatures. The reason doesn't matter: friends, home, they fan the flames of my anger.

My foes must die, so that I don't. This thought carries me forward with different wordless cries and calls as I leap, and attack. Milky-white goo flows from where I pound into a porcelain face. I land, and strike again without pause.

I crush, bash, swing, swipe, lash, tug, blast, freeze, punch, kick, run, and leap across this battleground. I dance to my own rhythm, and these monsters can't keep up. I watch my body kill with savage intent, but I accept it. The death of my fellow Children will be avenged.

Blood must be spilled for my loss, and I expect nothing less than a river.

* * *

At some point—I don't know, or care, when—there are no more enemies around me, no one who wants me dead. The doll's goo covers my robe. I hear my right ear sizzle. My robe is torn along one shoulder. Despite these wounds, I'm alive, and have spilled the blood of my enemies. Vengeance has been earned.

' _Not yet,_ ' my rage tells me. ' _This isn't a river, merely a trickle. There must be more. We must have more._ '

"More," I mutter, and then I say it louder. "More. More!"

Each time I say it fills me with greater power, greater desire to kill, and avenge.

However, the only person I see is Alice. She steps up to me from between the corpses of those I've killed. Her face is focused, calm, compared to my vengeful rage. But, she probably wants vengeance, too. We can work together, so long as I can deal the first blow.

"Bring me more," I order Alice. I feel a bit of disgust after I say this, but Alice doesn't seem to mind.

"There are more enemies along our way," she replies. "We will hunt them down, and kill them."

"Good," I say, and we move away from the ruins of my old home and further into the Dollhouse.

We take a new path to the side of the clearing that leads to a pair of giant doll legs dangling upside-down in the air. There's a hole where the genitals should be, and we go through that hole to reach another small clearing. More wooden spikes form a wall between us and a disorganized section of the Dollhouse.

A multicolored house is nearby, the yellow walls and glass windows open to us. I lead the way inside, and the walls close behind us once we get in. A Dollgirl and Dollboy walk out of two separate distortions, and two Menacing Ruin look down at us from separate upper levels.

"Yes!" I call out in delight as I summon the Hammer to my side. "More! Spill their blood!"

I leap at the Dollboy's, and flick the Hammer's power switch as I swing at his cheek. The cheek cracks apart from my strike, and the porcelain boy stumbles back. I slide along his chest, back onto the floor. Something comes at me from the corner of my eye, and I teleport to the right to avoid it. I spin around, and change the Hammer into 'RM'. I prop the Hammer on my shoulder, aim it at the Dollboy's broken face, and take a few steps back. My rage gives me enough strength to fire a shot while standing on two legs.

My shot makes a huge chunk of the Boy's cheek explode into porcelain pieces and goo. I then aim the Hammer at the Dollgirl and prepare to fire again, but she gets covered by hot tea before I press the trigger. She screeches in anger, and turns towards the source of that tea. I now aim at one of the Dollgirl's arm.

Before I press the trigger, something burning hot knocks me off my feet. I drop the Hammer as my training kicks in. I flip head-over-heels to recover from the sudden attack. I look at the most likely source; one of the two Menacing that stand on the higher platforms.

One of those Menacing grunts and snorts as it conjures another fireball. It's too far away for me to get a good shot, so I ignore it in place of finishing off the damaged Dollboy. All that remains of his head is a single eye, a piece of his mouth, and a few nails hammered through his skull. He also has a nail in his hand, which he throws at me.

I spin away from the attack, and charge him. I summon the Ice Wand and flip it around, so the back end of the staff turns into a spear. I jab that bit into the Boy's chest, and it punctures through the outer shell.

The Wand's cold spreads through the staff, turns the Boy's green coat a shimmering blue. It spreads more and more as the boy's hand reaches to grab my head. It stops just short as it turns into a giant ice sculpture. I shudder with a heavy breath, just as a Menacing gives a telltale roar. I teleport back just as a fireball strikes the frozen Dollboy, and he shatters into pieces.

Some of these pieces dig into my skin and tear through what remains of my robe. I stumble back without much control. The cold of these shards breaks through my rage. It's hard to stay angry when every move you make gives you pain. My mists move to heal the injured spaces, but they don't work fast enough. Pain, and common sense, trumps my anger. I start to realize exactly what I'm doing.

I'm fighting like a barbarian again, aren't I? I only wanted to kill because I couldn't protect anyone. Why can't I focus on anything more than my anger when I need to?

Nothing seems right, anymore. My closest friends are dead, and I wasn't there to help them. The Wonderland I knew has become twisted by darkness, and all my training couldn't stop it. I cover my ears against the cacophony of battle, and stumble across the house's floor.

A fireball lands next to me, but it doesn't jar me into action. The pained cries of a Dollgirl don't give me any happiness. Everything's become empty, useless. Am I on the losing side of this war, after all?

"Kyle!" Alice's voice is muted against the chaos all around me. "You need to fight! Spill their blood! Make them pay!"

I can't speak back to her; my throat is too raw to get words out. I fall to my knees and watch my mists slowly crawl over my cuts, sealing them up. I have these powers, and I still can't make things right.

"Get up, Kyle," Alice shouts at me again. "Get up and fight! I can't do all this alone!"

Funny, that's not really true. Alice has fought a lot more than me, so she _can_ do 'all this' alone. Whatever 'all this' is. Does she really need me, anymore? Does she really need my help?

Alice cries out, louder than I've ever heard her before. The pain in her voice makes something click. Something suddenly makes sense.

If I believe Alice to be my creator, then I need to keep her safe. Without her, I don't exist. I _want_ to exist. I've learnt who I used to be, so now I can focus on what I can be.

Alice _made_ me. Now, she _needs_ me.

* * *

I teleport across the floor. Alice lies prone as I reform between her and the Dollgirl. The monster lets out a fiery breath, but I dig the Ice Wand's orb into her mouth. The flames burn my skin and robe, but the Wand's cold counters the heat. I fire the Wand's magic into the Dollgirl's mouth, and the flames instantly snuff out. The girl rises up and covers her frozen mouth with her hands.

I switch to the Incense Cup, detach the front end, and swing it into her chest. I pound into her again and again, a cloud of incense . Her clothes soon break off, and I teleport back from the thick cloud of incense. She comes out of the cloud with hands open to crush me.

Pepper bullets slam into her chest and drive her back. Alice steps beside me as she fires the Grinder with a long, loud battle cry. I teleport back to where I got the Hammer, pick it up, and switch it back to 'MM'. I then breathe in, and run back over to Alice. The Dollgirl's chest breaks open under Alice's continued fire, which reveals her beating heart.

I sprint toward the Dollgirl, and swing the Hammer right into her heart. She steps back, and I swing again. She steps farther back, and I spin around for a third strike that sinks the Hammer's front deep into the beating organ. The heart finally explodes into bits of goo and flesh, and I press into the Dollgirl's body as it falls to the floor. I end up standing on top of its broken chest. Pepper and incense combine to give each breath I take a tingly spice.

Snorts reach my ears; there are still two foes left. They will be destroyed.

I look to Alice, but she's already running towards one of the Menaces. I move as fast as I can to catch up with her, and leap up to where she's going. It's time to get personal.

The Menace whirls around with a gurgle. It charges at me with pulsing veins, and I teleport to the side to avoid it. Fire slams into my back as I slam the Hammer into my current foe's back. My vision is white at the edges as I swing and dodge over and over. Alice joins in with the Hobby Horse; our combined force shatters all three of the Ruin's masks with ease.

A fireball slams into the Menace as it melts away. The burning goo splashes on my skin, but it only replaces earlier pain. I dismiss the Hammer, sprint to the edge of the higher space, and leap towards the last Menace. I fall short of where I want to be, but my mists send my impact across the floor. I then leap up, and the Menace snorts at me as I get up in its space. I re-summon the Hammer as the Menace flings its giant liquid arm at me.

A Ruin dart cuts into my neck as I sharply tilt my head to one side. I then duck down, and charge forward. Once I get up close, I swing the Hammer right into the Ruin's side, digging the weapon as far as I can into the gooey skin. I flash back to the last time I did this move, in the Domain, against the same kind of foe. This time, I won't grant any mercy.

Ruin coats my hands as I feel around for the Hammer's power switch. Pepper slams into the Menace's side as Alice uses the Grinder at close range. I smile as I find the Hammer's power switch, and flick it as hard as I can.

A muffled _boom_ reaches my ears, and the Menace wails. Its insides balloon out as the Hammer's power explodes inside it, but it doesn't blow apart. I reach into the Ruin once again as I try to pull the Hammer out for another strike. One more blow should do it.

A triumphant whinny signals the arrival of the Hobby Horse as Alice forces its horn and head into the Ruin's body. The impact finally breaks the slimy creature down into black goo and metal pipes. The goo flies on me, and over me, as I fall on my back. I quickly brush any goo over my eyes away as I roll over to see how Alice is.

She's on the ground beside me. Her dress is drenched in Ruin, a deep gash across her right breast. I can't see any blood, but she doesn't look like she's in pain. Even so, she winces with every breath she makes.

I crawl to her with my arms, my legs too weak to move properly. When I reach her, I flop down beside her. Ruin coats my chest and makes old burns tingle with fresh feeling. We both breathe in and out in opposing sequence. My mist's caress can only do so much to numb the pain of our victory.

* * *

At some point, I hear Alice shift beside me. I turn over to her, and we look at each other. I don't feel like getting up if she won't get up, but I also know we can't just lie here forever. My body just doesn't want to get up and move right now. I feel more tired than my mind tells me.

Alice breaks the silence around us when she rises to a seating position. The Ruin on her upper body slides off her body on its own. The gash on her chest is clotted over with a grisly set of red and black lines, the wound tearing through her dress. She turns back to me, and I see a black ring around her swollen right eye. Despite these injuries, her flowing hair, and the blood on her face, give her a beauty that fans my vengeful fire.

"Are you satisfied?" she gets out between breaths. "Has enough blood been spilled?"

"Yes," I reply even as tears return to my eyes as I remember holding Alicia's mangled body. "I'm satisfied. I just had a… what's the word for when you discover something incredible for the first time?"

"Revelation?" Alice suggests, but I shake my head. She tries again with, "Epiphany?" and I smile as that word fits a lot better.

"I've had an epiphany about myself," I explain as I slowly sit up from the Ruin beneath me. "If I used to live in Wonderland, you must have created me. You made this world, and everything in it, what it is. My time in London was a plan to get you back to Wonderland, so you could save it. I knew who you were in Wonderland, without ever seeing you."

Alice listens in silence, and then quietly asks, "Why did it take you this long to figure that out?"

"Well, I wanted to protect you, to be near you, since when I first woke up in London. Back when we first came to Wonderland, I stayed by you because you kept me focused on something. Now, I'm doing this to keep you safe until you fix this place."

"So, I'm your 'creator', now? Am I no longer your friend?"

"You're much more than a friend, now." I smile at Alice, and she breathes out a heavy sigh.

"It's crazy to think how I ever created something like you," she states, "but I guess I had a reason to." She then stands up and says, "Let's go."

I get up as she smashes a Ruin wall open with the Hobby Horse. She then pulls a lever behind the wall, which causes part of the nearby ceiling to lower down to our floor. A set of wooden blocks act as stairs for us to walk up, and onward.

* * *

The new room we enter has another full-body mirror with legs and small shoes, the words 'TAKE ME AWAY' carved into the glass. But, the biggest object here is a small piano with a three-by-three cabinet above it. Each of the yellow doors has a severed doll head inside it; each head has different hairstyles, eye colors, and skin tones. They all stare with blank eyes, and closed mouths, as we approach the piano. There's no exit door. Maybe the piano relates to how we get out?

"One more song to soothe the savage beast," Alice muses as she walks over to the piano and sits down on the bench in front of it. I walk over to the bench as she splays her hands on the keys. She must be about to play some really amazing piece.

Instead, she just taps a few individual keys with her fingers. That produces sound from the cabinet; the severed head's mouths open and close with each note Alice plays. As Alice goes further up and down the keys, the heads change their tone to match what octave she plays at.

Every note sounds beautiful to my ears, as if from a group of children singing to the sky in joy. I actually feel disappointed when Alice stops playing.

"There's a sequence to this," she says to me, "I've got to figure it out. Give me a moment; this is harder than singing with a fish, or hitting a set of bells in the right order."

She now starts playing groups of notes together as cords, and the heads sing together in response with voices that vibrate through my bones.

Words come to my mind as Alice plays, and my tongue loosens to sing them out in the same tune:

" _Little hands, little hearts,  
Keep them pure and white.  
Fit for heavenly errands  
And the angels sight…_"

Alice stops short, and looks at me with raised eyebrows. She must be surprised that I can sing like this. I shrug my shoulders in response to her look, and then motion for her to continue. She turns back, and does so. Once again, I sing the words to a song I only now remember:

" _Other hands, tired hands,  
Fearless clasp and hold,  
Warming, with warm touches,  
Weary hearts and cold._"

Alice doesn't stop playing this time, and the doll heads ring out their notes as I sing the final verse with a confident voice:

" _So shall hands, so shall hearts  
Fair as lilies be,  
When, life done, the angels  
Come and call for thee._"

The final note lasts for several seconds, and fades away slowly in my mind. Fresh tears run down my cheeks as I see brief flashbacks of the other Children, several years ago. They sang this song with me around small fires in the night. It kept us going, gave us some hope that the problems we faced would be fixed one day.

The only ones singing this now are the souls we couldn't save.

Alice echoes my thoughts when she says, "No melody should soothe this outrage."

At that moment, the left wall slides open to reveal what used to be a train station stop. Alice steps off the bench and starts to walk over there; I stay a few steps behind her as we walk beneath a reddening sky.

"This was the other stop on the Looking Glass Line," Alice states to me as she points to the hanging sign that reads 'LOOKING GLASS RAILWAY'. "A shame that a much eviler train now runs through Wonderland."

A distant blare makes us both jump, as if the Infernal Train heard Alice's words. Is it coming here to challenge her claim?

We run past a giant water tower, and Alice spots a side room around the tower's corner that has a Bumby memory hidden behind some cake slices. Alice chops them up with her Blade, and one of them drops a wriggling mass of maggots onto the ground. Alice crushes most of them as she steps over to the Bumby memory, and touches it.

" _Remaking children,_ " Bumby states, possibly in further explanation to his earlier definition of 'purpose', " _Build them up, tear them down, refashion them; teach them the new, forget the old._ "

I don't like that explanation. It sounds very similar to the two choices he had offered me at Houndsditch. That feels so long ago, but the connection is stil there. Bumby wanted me to forget who I used to be, even though that was my main goal. What was _his_ goal with making me forget?

We step back around the tower, and Alice points to a shimmering set of pink flower petals. It can only be an invisible platform. She jumps onto it, and I follow after I shrink down to confirm that there _is_ such a platform there. We jump from one platform to another, and find a Radula Room in the shadows of a tall house. Alice leads us inside.

* * *

I blink, and the darkness falls away to reveal a narrow wood corridor. Its walls are all around me, but light comes from a glass window in the distance. I head over there to see another crazed, multicolored track hanging in darkness. Another doll head with the 'Omega' symbol engraved on it rolls around inside, trying to get out.

Something hot and sticky slaps the side of my face. I rip the offending object off me and fling it back at its sender; the dog-spider from last time. The hot and sticky object is its long tongue, which it now pulls back into its mouth. It wiggles its mechanical legs probably ready to run away the moment I start chasing it.

"I'm not in the mood for games," I say to the creature as I look back to the track. "Leave me alone."

The creature whimpers, and then slaps me along the face with its tongue. Its saliva drips down my cheeks, and gets in my mouth. It tastes tangy and rotten.

"You revolting little—!" I don't finish my sentence as I start to run at the mechanical beast. I almost grab it before it skitters away, and our chase resumes from where it last left off.

Once again, the creature doesn't race on ahead of me, and I settle back into the same rhythm as before. I don't get any closer, or any farther away, but the desire to catch this dog-spider and teach it a lesson keeps me going.

Something pink swings in front of me. I skid to a halt after I jump along a gap in the floor. I look back at the gap to see a pink flamingo mallet swing through it. It swings through again every few seconds, like it's on a loop. When I look ahead of me, there's another mallet swinging down through a second gap. I've got another obstacle to deal with, as if this dog-spider isn't enough.

I pump my limbs to get back to my original speed, and the dog-spider stays a few steps ahead of me. It seems to know when the mallets will come down, while I have to dodge or stop every so often. It's actually more of an annoyance than an obstacle.

Suddenly, the ceiling expands out into a larger passageway. The dog-spider leaps across a large gap in front of us. I focus on my mists, and they thankfully respond. I use these mists to catapult myself across the gap. A forward roll once I land keeps my speed up as I resume the chase.

We jump over two more gaps like this before the dog-spider turns to a hole in the right wall and shoots its tongue out at something I can't see. I reach out to grab it, but it swings away once again. I don't stop this time, and just continue down the path to the left. That path quickly reaches a dead end. The only thing that offers any chance of escape is a black hole below me that spirals around into what looks like an endless abyss.

There's no way I'm going back across those obstacles, so I take a breath, focus my nerves, and jump into the portal. I fall through cold darkness, and suddenly slow down to a gentle float. The darkness turns to a moonlit sky as I land on my feet in the Vale of Tear's lake.

"Good to see you made it." The Cheshire Cat says this as I see him alongside Alice. She doesn't look hurt from whatever she had to do, and the Cat grins like he always does.

"I see you both are still willing to save Wonderland. Our meetings have paid off," the Cat continues with a pleased glint in his eyes. "However, this will be the last of these meetings."

"You're leaving us?" I ask with a sharp breath. "Are you going to… die?"

"A cat has nine lives, and I've already spent one in service to Wonderland," the Cat answers with a twitch of his ears. "Death isn't as frightening the second time. I'll be sure to watch you two on your quest, and maybe offer some advice along the way. What I can't offer is more strength in your battles. You'll have to find that on your own."

"You didn't seem so worried the last time I faced a terrible threat," Alice states with her arms crossed over her chest. "Hopefully, this time you'll keep your head screwed on tight."

The Cat's ears flatten against his skull as he mutters, "A most insulting metaphor to use. But," he continues with the same attitude as before, "I suppose we must all learn the truth at some point. You both know your paths, and I know mine. Good hunting!"

With a wink, he vanishes. Two final vials of Rose Paint float where he sat, and Alice quickly takes them into her hands. Like before, her body heals itself until no scars, cuts, or bruises remain.

" _Yes,_ " Hysteria shouts into the quickly-darkening clouds. " _YES! The power, the strength, the anger! It's all so delicious! The Dollmaker will fall before us, as will all our enemies!_ "

She ends with a loud cackle as my vision goes black…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. I hope you have enjoyed this take into Kyle's 'darker side'. But, there's still more of the Dollhouse to go. Stay tuned to see what happens next.**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	42. The Painful Truth

**Hello, all! Here's the next chapter in the story.**

 **This chapter's got more combat (of course), but some big secrets also get revealed. Those of you who have played the game will probably know what I'm talking about.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I feel an odd sense of closure as we jump across the invisible platforms back to the Looking Glass Railway station. Now that Alice and Hysteria are at their maximum strength, they can take on any threat. At least, that's what the Cheshire Cat says. I may as well trust him on this, since he's been with Alice longer than me.

Once back at the station, we see a large staircase leading to another open space. Another jack-in-the-box rests in the center of the new area, and another ring of houses surround us. I look to Alice, and she shrugs her shoulders. She doesn't seem upset that this area is similar to the last one. I also have some sort of desire to see if she'll vanish again; it'll give me another chance to catch that dog-spider.

Wait, Alice doesn't know about that creature. Maybe she just trusts that I'm safe while she deals with her own problems?

I dismiss these thoughts as Alive moves to the jack-in-the-box, and cranks the lever. The same head flies out, and the same childish giggle echoes all around me. Alice just vanishes in the blink of an eye, without any kind of distortion or special power. This time, I keep my gaze on the houses. If the dog-spider shows up, I want to be ready for it.

The dog-spider eventually scuttles up from the wasteland below. It slips through the frame of an open window a bit higher than where I stand. After I take a few steps back, and channel my mists into my legs, I leap over there.

I roll into the landing, and my surroundings turn pitch-black. The smell of wood fills my nose as I continue to run forward into the dark. I feel the dog-spider won't lead me to my death; it seems more like it wants to play a game, whether or not I'll enjoy it. So long as it keeps me on the same path as Alice, I'll play along.

Light fills the same wooden corridor as before from a set of glass windows to my left. Another track for the 'Omega' doll head rests beyond the glass. That head rolls around amidst a series of poles that hamper its movement. It then falls to a rotating space filled with various curves and twists. I want to slow down and watch the head's progress, but I force myself back to my own path. I've got my own goal.

A flamingo-mallet whooshes in front of me, but doesn't hit me. The dog-spider doesn't get hit by them, either. It just stays several steps ahead of me, never turning its head back to face me. It must expect me to follow it, like _I'm_ the dog here.

Something new slams into the side of the wall in front of me, and starts to pull back. I rush to get through it before it slams again, and see a row of flesh filled with holes to my right. The flesh looks just like those spiked crushers in the Underground used. If those crushers are on this track…

I breathe a bit faster as I run. More crushers make themselves known at different spaces as I try to keep up with the dog-spider. They strike from both sides and above, but never from below me. I have to stop as some of them block my passage forward, and others almost knock me off my feet with the force of their impacts.

A set of glass windows offers a respite. I glance to the track and see sets of cannons leading to looping tracks that the head is able to aim on its own. I turn back my track as I hear a sharp _clack_ from the dog-spider. It just jumped over a large gap, and I use my mists to equal its jump. I stumble on the landing as the corridor spreads out again. My ankles throb as I try to get back to running.

The flamingo-mallets now team up with the spiked crushers to kill me. They appear one after the other, or one pops in among a group of the other. A few gaps come in between all of them. I focus on each step I take, slowing down and speeding up as the moment declares it.

My mind relaxes, and instinct takes over. I feel like when I walked up the winding path in the Grove; something the Origami Ants called a 'meditative trance'. I never experienced that before, so this sensation is new to me.

I don't get any closer to the thing I'm chasing, but I also don't feel any other pain from my body. I lose track of how long I run, and just do it.

The path eventually ends; the crushers, mallets and gaps all go away with the glass windows. Dark wood surrounds me as I run towards a white light, and then through it. I slow down as my trance breaks, and slam right into a wooden wall.

My mists gently caress my injured face as I look around. I now stand in a large wooden room with a keyhole on one wall. The only other way out is through the wooden corridor I just entered in. The dog-spider stands between me and the keyhole. Its legs wiggle as it looks around, but I'm not letting it escape.

"Alright, you… _thing_ ," I say as I open my hands, "I've finally got you. There's nowhere else to run."

The creature looks at me with its lidless eyes, and then shoots its tongue at me. I jump to one side and race towards it. The creature retracts its tongue a lot faster than I expect, and shoots it out at my face. I can't dodge this attack.

A huge amount of slobber and saliva fills my nose and eyes as the dog-spider… _licks my face_?

I stop short, and the long tongue goes back to its owner. I brush as much of the saliva off me as I can. I don't feel my body burn up or melt away. I look again at the dog-spider; it dances in place like it's pleased with itself.

"You…" It takes a concentrated effort for me to ask my question, because it sounds so silly to me. "Did you actually want me to chase you?"

The creature yips in a high-pitched tone; apparently, yes. My arms fall to my sides as I stare dumbly at this thing. It's either very smart, or very stupid. It takes my dulled senses a moment to realize that I'm actually _laughing_ at all this.

I don't know how else to feel, so I just continue to laugh. The dog-spider yips even more as it jumps up and down, like it knows what I'm laughing about. We share the laughter until something gets in my throat. I cough it out, and the dog-spider stops yipping.

"Oh, geez," I mutter as I rub my throat with a bony finger, "you are one crazy dog-spider. When did Alice ever make you up?"

It clacks its jaws together once as a response, and I just shake my head in confused amusement.

"Listen," I say as I step up to it, "whatever game you wanted to play, it's finished. I need to meet with Alice, and we need to defeat the Dollmaker. This chase was… interesting, but I need to go now. Can you let me pass?"

The dog-spider skitters right up to my face, looks me over with its eyes, and then steps aside for me to go through the keyhole.

I give this strange creature a brief, "Thank you," and then shrink down to go through the keyhole. It yaps once at me as I move into a winding path of wood that leads down, down, down to some unknown place.

* * *

The keyhole ends by another dark slide that leads deeper into the Underground. Alice is already there when I arrive, some pieces of porcelain around the edges of the small platform indicating she's been busy. She jumps back as I pop up to normal size.

"I've been here for a few minutes," she explains once she calms down. "What took you so long?"

I decide to give her the honest answer: "A dog-spider creature wanted me to chase it along a winding path of wooden corridors filled with obstacles. When I finally got up to it, it licked my face in a friendly way, and we made amends before I went through a keyhole to come here."

Alice silently blinks several times. Her face shifts between confused, angry, and amazed several times over. Finally, she raises a hand and says, "I don't want to hear about it; let's just get going." I shrug my shoulders, and follow her onto the glass slide.

This time, there are more bodies and organs strung up than scissors or knives. The blackness is the same, but I no longer hear any crying. The path splits apart like the others, but has the largest set of Ruin blotches I've seen. This has to mean we are getting close to the Dollmaker.

Once we find him, we can defeat him, and then everything will be as it should be.

I blink at that thought as I slide down a long, straight path. This may be the last time Alice and I take a slide like this. Will these things still be here when all this is over, or will the Underground be destroyed entirely when the Dollmaker dies? Will the Ruin just up and vanish like the Cheshire Cat's evaporating powers, or could it still fight without an apparent master? And what about the Infernal Train, or the Vale of Doom—what will happen to them when all this is done?

My path rejoins with Alice's before I can answer my own questions. We fall from the slide's end onto a wooden platform held aloft by thick strings. A sea of bubbling Ruin is beneath us, and a ring of wood surrounds us. A Menacing Ruin rises up on our space, and no less than _four_ Dollgirls and Dollboys step out of distortions in the air. One of the boys is missing half of his body, revealing his inner organs that beat and pulse without a problem.

"Focus fire," Alice commands as I summon the Hammer. "Take them out together."

I respond with, "Right!" as the Menace reaches into its back to draw a fireball. I charge towards it, and Alice joins me with the Hobby Horse. We slam into the old foe from both sides, and one of its three masks instantly shatters.

We both follow up with our own individual combos, which make small explosions along it's body. Its other faces quickly shatter as well, and it melts away before it ever becomes a threat.

I hear a child's screech before the platform shakes beneath our feet. I whirl around as the walking half of a Dollboy stands up. It burps once as it stares us down, its mouth open and ready to either attack us or screech out again.

Alice quickly calls out, "Spit up!" I leap to the side as a stream of fire singes my skin. I keep the Hammer in my hands as I slam into the wooden ring, but the pain isn't bad enough to distract me from the real threat.

The full Dollboy is now in front of me, and he swipes at me with a nail. I teleport over to his leg and give it a good whack with the Hammer before I teleport further down the ring.

Luck is on our side as Alice quickly joins up with me. I switch to the Cup, and jump back as the half-boy leaps over to us. Pepper joins incense as we both fire bullets into this boy's beating heart, and he actually writhes in pain as we hit the organ. Fire spits from his mouth, but it doesn't get anywhere near us before he collapses into a pile of milky-white goo and plastic parts.

I cough as the Cup overloads in my face. Then, acid rains all around me. I teleport away from the liquid, and wind up separated from Alice again. The full-fledged Dollboy jumps at me with another nail in hand, and I just run away to a safe space. I need a moment to recover, get my bearings, before I can fight again.

Acid balls burst open on my back and neck. I stumble and fall to the floor as I hear my skin sizzle and hiss. My vision turns white at the edges; all sound starts to blend together into one chaotic noise.

A giant hand grabs me from behind, crushes my back between plastic fingers. Then, I feel my skin char beneath a roaring flame. My vision shrinks down to pricks of color against an infinite whiteness. A voice screams out in agony; _my_ _voice_.

My body flies through the air, and I don't feel the impact when I land. Another body lands beside me, and my vision returns as Alice's voice cries out from the body. She pushes her hands into the floor to try and get up again. Her skin is singed red from fire, her dress cut in several places, her nose bleeding. I flick my eyes at where she looks. The two Dollgirls move towards us together, working together.

How did things turn out so badly so fast? One moment we were working together just fine, and the next we're getting our asses kicked. This can't be the end, can it? We're supposed to be stronger than this!

My vision fades into complete white as I feel my anger Unleash itself. I let the anger flow through me, and out of me, and into my enemies. A familiar flare of anguish and suffering tells me Hysteria has taken over for Alice.

My eyes snap open as thousands of my Unleashed copies fly in a tight circle around Hysteria, cradling her in midair. Her hair whips around as she summons the Teapot Cannon, now colored black-and-red as it spits blood from its bandaged nozzle. She floats to the ground by tens of my copy's hands, while the rest swarm out to find foes to kill.

We get the Dollgirls first, and drag them over to Hysteria. The woman screams as she fires a blood-red tea grenade at both Girls. The explosion blows off both of their clothes, and my copies dig into their plastic bodies to find their weak hearts. Hundreds of my fingers pry open the fake skin, and Hysteria readies another shot.

At that moment, the acid of a Bitch Baby splashes over her body. The searing liquid doesn't seem to harm Hysteria, but her eyes widen in shock. Then, she roars as her body sprouts a dark red aura. The Cannon vanishes as she draws the Vorpal Blade and leaps at the Dollgirls with bared teeth.

I hear the Blade go _snicker-snack_ as it cleaves through the doll's bodies. My copies reach out into the air as Hysteria has her way with the Girls. She doesn't hold back on making her mark.

I only manage to rip apart half of the Bitch Babies before my Unleashed storm starts to break. My copies all realize their time is up, and fly back into each other to make my one body.

Hysteria stops her violence, stands up on shaky legs. She says three words between heavy breaths: " _Not… fast… enough._ " Then, a mostly-healed Alice slumps to the ground.

I still hear the whirr of Bitch Babies in the air, feel the impacts of the other Dollboy as he comes towards us with a broken leg. I have enough strength left to stand up and summon the Fire Whip. I lash the Boy's other leg and try to pull him down to our level.

The Teapot Cannon fires from behind me, and a Bitch Baby screeches. The Dollboy wobbles on one leg as I tug the Whip back to me, and the Boy falls as the leg in question fully catches fire. I tug again, and the Whip slides out from beneath his body.

I turn to the two remaining Babies, and snap the Whip at one. It dodges my attack, but then explodes from a tea grenade. The last Baby dive-bombs us, and I teleport as far back as I can. It tries to rise back up, but Alice blows it apart with pepper bullets.

I look to the Dollboy, who's still on all fours. His burnt leg barely moves, and the broken one can't bend the right way. Nevertheless, he still pulls a nail out of his face and holds it. His blank eyes don't change as he tries to swipe at us. I shrink down as Alice charges in with the Vorpal Blade. She gets right in his face and starts to chop it off.

I grow to normal size and summon the Hammer. The Dollboy moans as I join in the beating. We shatter his eyes with pounds and slashes, and he grows quiet when we break his skull open. We only stop when his entire head, neck, and chest lie around us in pieces. Milky-white goo is all over the floor, and over us, as we try to recover from another long battle.

* * *

"I don't want to have that happen again," Alice says as I see a toadstool spring pop up on one end of the outer wooden ring. "We need to stick together, no matter what comes our way, if we want to have any good chance of getting through this mess."

"I hear you," I say as we walk over to the spring, "We need to be at our best if we want to win."

We launch ourselves away from this battlefield, and hop along another spring before we land on a patch of polished wood. The darkness here extends until it reaches a white door with a roaring fire inside the window, and the word 'LIDDEL' engraved on the top.

"Alice," I ask as I stop moving in the face of this new discovery, "why does this door have your last name on it?"

"These doors are glimpses from the night of the fire," Alice slowly explains as she steps towards the door. "I've always entered them alone, each one in a different area of Wonderland. They've helped me piece together what really happened. I've already learned so much, but if this door is here…"

Alice trails off as she lowers her head. Her shoulders shake like she's laughing, but her fists are tightly clenched. I take a few steps towards her, but she snaps back to normal in just a moment.

"Follow me, Kyle," she says before she wrenches open the door, beyond which I can see only darkness. "We're going to learn the truth, together."

I don't argue with Alice's choice, and she clutches my hand as we step into a warmer darkness. The door closes behind me, and we walk into the darkness of Alice's memories…

* * *

 _A library. Shelves of books fill the walls, along with beautiful furniture. An old camera atop a tripod, and stacks of paper covered with drawings, flash into view. Someone prides themselves in their work, if they are to display it so proudly to anyone who would come by the house._

 _A fireplace, inside that library. Logs rest idle in a metal placeholder. Something hisses, and the logs catch fire. Orange light flickers against the darkness, the light growing with each second. The dry air fuels its growth, feeds its ravenous hunger._

 _A window, on the upper floor of the house. The bottom half is open to the night sky. A black cat sits on the windowsill, eyes cast inside the room one of its owners is inside. With a loud, "_ Myah! _" it leaps out into the night. Something inside the room wakes up a moment later._

 _A man. Tall, thin, with dark clothes and round-rimmed glasses. He runs down the stairway of the same house, a metal key tightly clenched in one hand. The other hand holds a lantern that burns with its own fire. The man stops at the bottom of the stairs, and hurls the lantern at a nearby drawer. The glass shatters, and the fire spreads to fresh wood. The man runs out the front door as the blaze roars to life._

 _Alice. A young Alice, clutching a stuffed rabbit as she slowly walks away from the burning house behind her. The home looks skeletal against the flames, barely able to stay intact._

"I had a role in my family's demise, _" the older Alice's voice says in realization, "_ but I did not start the fire. Centaurs don't live in Oxford, but a certain doctor did. _"_

 _The young Alice's eyes snap up to the trees around the house. The man from before stands amidst them, almost like them in the shape of his body. His glasses reflect the fire, and bounce it back into Alice's gaze. His coat gives him bulk, as if he's grown another set of legs._

"I saw him, _" Alice continues to speak as her younger self's eyes widen, "_ a preening undergraduate. Now I remember him! That key came from Lizzie's room! _"_

 _The man raises the key that he had inside the house; Lizzie's key. He tucks it into his coat before Alice's eyes, and then melts into the trees as shouts and several pairs of feet tramp towards her from a nearby path. As he turns away, the fire reveals his face for a single moment._

 _The man wears Angus Bumby's skin._

 _The key, with the astronomical symbol of Venus, suddenly glints as it joins a ring of four other keys that Bumby does not hold. The symbols of Saturn, Mercury, Luna, and Mars shine along with Venus, the ring complete and fully formed._

* * *

The door's darkness changes back to the Underground's shadows as Alice opens the door back outside her darkest memories. She still holds my hand, her grip so tight I think she'll snap my fingers at any moment. The door closes on its own behind us; we now stand in a wooden room with a few glass cases.

I tug against Alice's grip, and she lets me go. Her hands fly to her eyes as she brushes away glistening tears against her ghostly-white face. Yet, she doesn't fall into sobs at what she's seen. I imagine her heart must be broken, even though she knows the truth. I also feel broken, but also betrayed. The man who I thought could cure me turns out to be the deepest cause of my creator's suffering.

We start walking at the same time, and smash every glass case we see. Even though Alice has no more use for the teeth, she hasn't directly said she wouldn't stop collecting them. The rose petals give her skin a little more color, and seem to help her calm down. We exit through a small door into a long, winding path that leads across a deep chasm.

Something is already inside the chasm: The Infernal Train. Ironic that we come to it when _it's_ been chasing _us_ across all of Wonderland as a harbinger of the Ruin's corruption. But, we finally meet, machine to human. I have no comment.

A Liddel memory glows to our left. Alice reaches for it, and then draws back. I move to console her, but she steps forward and shatters the image before I can touch her. Arthur Liddel speaks up, though it sounds like he is speaking to Alice and Lizzie.

" _My father would wish that you hold your tears, girls,_ " he says. " _He lived a long life, and as the poet says, 'like a clock worn out eating time, the wheels of weary life at long last stood still'._ "

Oh, if only it were that simple! If only Arthur, and his caring wife, knew the horrors that their youngest daughter has to face!

We continue along the narrow path, Alice in front, as it turns into a winding staircase. A large black house rests at the top of these stairs, twisted and contorted into angles I can't believe are stable. Strings from the Underground coil around many spots, holding it in place. Gray windows are on every side; whoever is inside can see in every direction.

The Dollmaker must be in there. This building must be his workshop, the place where he makes toys out of children. I want, and don't want, to go in there. But, I have no choice; if we are to save Wonderland, the Dollmaker and his Ruin need to die.

The staircase leads up to an open doorway. We walk through it, and are instantly set upon by Insidious Ruin. Alice summons the Vorpal Blade to hack and slice at these inhuman monsters. I aid her with the Fire Whip, lashing it down like a snake or whipping it around us in a ring of fire. The Insidious scatter before us, but they come again just as we try to move forward. We don't get more than a few steps along our path before we have to fight again.

I switch to the Ice Wand and blast cones of cold at the Insidious in front of us. We jump over their frozen bodies, and start to walk up a set of stairs next to one of the workshop's walls. The Insidious come in single-file, and I use the Wand's magic to keep them back.

The Pepper Grinder fires from behind me, and a spiked Ruin ball splatters against the wall next to me. Drifting Ruin descend from the air, but Alice fires at them. Pepper gets in my nose, and I snort it out before I take a deep breath.

We move at our own pace against the tide of Ruin, never stopping completely as the stairs wind around all four walls in an upward spiral. Along the way, we see lines of bodies in white robes hang in the air by metal hooks. The bodies don't move, but the hooks shuffle along a set path via metal chains. As we pass one such line by, I realize the bodies are little children, all clothed up in the same garb and dragged to the same destination.

My old friends are probably among them, but all the children look the same right now; victims of a madman.

I bump into Alice as she stops going forward. I look to her just as she shrinks down to enter a keyhole. This might be the path we need to take to the Dollmaker, so I shrink down and follow her inside.

When we reach the end of keyhole, there's only a Liddel memory shining amidst polished wood. Alice touches it, and I hear it shatter louder than any other memory in Wonderland.

" _I'm no toy!_ " This comes from an angry Lizzie speaking to what I assume to be a younger Alice. " _He wanted me to do things I didn't want to do._ "

Lizzie, Alice's older sister. Lizzie, the sought-after beauty. Lizzie, defiant and confident. Lizzie, victim of rape and murder in the name of crazed desire.

"That's it," Alice slowly states as Lizzie's voice fades. "That's every memory. That's all I need to know."

I smile at these words, even though my heart aches for Alice. I didn't hear every memory she collected, so I don't know everything she does. But, I feel happy that she feels complete about her past.

We go back through the keyhole, back into the tide of Drifting and Insidious Ruin. We continue our move-and-shoot plan against both enemies, but I stay a pace or two back so pepper doesn't get in my nose. We pass more chains of hooked children, more than I ever remember knowing, as they are dragged to the Dollmaker's hands.

Then, suddenly, the Ruin stop coming. We now stand before another open staircase, beyond which is the sound of humming and short cries being silenced every few seconds. Alice steps forward after she dismisses her weapon, and I do the same.

* * *

We come upon a giant of a man, slouched over in gray and white clothes as he hums a sinister tune. Ruin drips from his eye sockets, drools out of his mouth like saliva, and forms a beard on his chin. His skin is stretched, but not torn, like there's something more terrifying hiding inside.

I know that image already, and I don't like it.

The man's hands twitch as they delicately take a white-robed child from one of the lines of hooks that all move to him. He hums the same tune as he straps porcelain doll parts around the screaming body. The screams stop once the man attaches a large doll head over the child's face. I shudder inside at his precision.

This man is the Dollmaker. The controller of the Ruin, wearing Angus Bumby's skin. Alice's memories were right all along.

We step to the Dollmaker as he places the child into a bin to his left. He notices us, and merely clasps his hands together without attacking us. He wears the skin of Angus Bumby, but he seems much more open about his power than the doctor ever was.

Heat billows from beside me. I turn to see Alice stare at the man with more shock, and anger, than any time before. She gnashes her teeth together as her fists clench so hard the knuckles turn white.

"Am I not the most shameless and wretched of fortune's fools?" Alice suddenly spits this out as she glares at the Dollmaker, who just sits there and takes the words she continues to say.

"Oblivious, I live in a training ground for prostitutes! My mentor is an abuser and purveyor; I've been complicit with my sister's murderer, and the killer of my family, as he corrupted my mind! I sought relief from my pain, and you turned me away from the truth!"

" _You were almost there!_ " The Dollmaker finally speaks, in a darker and deeper version of Angus Bumby's voice. " _Almost free from what you fear. You could have been cured. You could have forgotten!_ "

"Abandon the memory of my family!?" Alice sounds horrified as she spits this back, and I don't blame her; why would she want to discard the last source of her happiest times?

" _They are dead,_ " the Dollmaker insists as he leans forward towards us, " _and, you should be too._ "

"You misbegotten abomination…" Alice declares with seething hatred. "Murderer! You blood-sucking parasite! The damage you've done to these children. The abuse!"

" _I provide a service,_ " the Dollmaker counters as he pulls a line of hooks forward with a hand. " _In the great and awful metropolis, appetites of all sorts must be gratified._ " I clench my own teeth as I hear these words; what service is there in forcing children down a path that they do not truly want to take?

"My memory," Alice rambles as she shivers in place. "My mind! The Infernal Train!" The Dollmaker straightens up at that last thing.

" _The Train is your invention,_ " he states as he shifts his position slightly, " _your defense. I merely set its schedule, and itinerary._ " The giant then takes another child from a hook and begins to doll them up. He sings a simple rhyme as he silences the child's screams in the same way as before…

" _The Train is coming with shiny cars,  
With comfy seats, and wheels of stars.  
So hush, my little ones, have no fear,  
The Man in the Moon is the engineer._"

The song ends with the Dollmaker tossing the child into the same bin as earlier. That bin must holds hundreds, maybe thousands, of innocent souls. All of whom now believe the same twisted motives Bumby has implanted in them. They are all equal, but none of them want to be.

"I'll stop that Train," Alice announces as the Dollmaker turns back to us, "if it's the last thing I do!"

" _As you wish, it will be!_ " With that, the Dollmaker wraps his hand around Alice before I can blink. He draws out more doll parts as I hear Alice's muffled screams. In a matter of moments, those cries stop. I stare in shocked silence as the Dollmaker toys with the greatest threat to his work.

Then, he holds a frozen doll in his hands. The body is slender and tall, the head branded with the 'Omega' symbol Alice wore around her neck. Terror fills me completely; I can't do, or say, anything.

" _You're lost,_ " he says as Ruin drips from his grinning mouth, " _and where your body is your mind will follow. Perhaps it's already there._ "

He raises her over the bin to dispose of her. My terror breaks, and I summon the Hammer to prop a shot at this monster.

"Put her down, you fucking piece of shit!" My voice sounds minuscule against this titan of corruption, but it's enough to get his attention. He turns to face me as his grin drops back to a frown.

" _Ah,_ " he breathes out, " _the token child. The prodigal son, come home at last to beg for forgiveness. Unfortunately, there's nothing left to forgive._ "

"You tried to make me forget, too," I shout at him as I aim the Hammer up at his Ruin-filled eyes. "I wanted to know where Alice was, and you kept her from me! You hoped I would never learn the truth!"

" _You would have been better as a provider. You only had to do what your betters told you._ "

"You're no better than your Ruin, you bastard! You took my friends, friends that I used to fight you with, friends who accepted me to stay alongside my creator against you!"

" _Your creator? You mean…_ " The Dollmaker looks at the frozen and muted Alice in his hands, and then gives a long, low chuckle as he figures it out. " _So, you are but a fragment of what_ she _created! A piece of the puzzle, brought to life through_ her _desire to ease her suffering!_ "

"That's right! I am Kyle Zuclair, creation of Alice Liddel, and warrior of Wonderland! I will not let you take control of the world I was born in, and have sworn to protect!"

" _Then, y_ _ou can join your world in its rebirth!_ "

The Dollmaker extends a hand, but I fire my shot before he grabs me. The shot arcs into his left shoulder. That arm almost falls off as the shot's explosion tears through muscle and ligaments. Ruin flies across the Workshop as the Dollmaker roars in pain.

Alice's body falls through the air; I sprint over to grab it. After I take a few steps, a giant hand presses me down into the wood. I wail as the hand shifts up and down my back without mercy. My bones pop and crack in several places. Alice's body vanishes into the same bin as the other dolls, the other children.

" _Insolent shit,_ " the Dollmaker shouts through the roar of blood in my ears. " _You're just as mad as the other children. You deserve their fate!_ "

I can't move a muscle, but I can mentally dismiss the Hammer just before the Dollmaker's hand pulls me off the ground. My heart beats wildly as I feel cold plastic wrap over my legs, and then my arms. Each part that goes over my body numbs that part of me, silences a piece of who I am.

" _You have failed,_ " the Dollmaker says as he brings a porcelain mask up to my face. " _You can wallow in your self-pity as this world dies around you. It is your destiny for trying to save her._ "

A face is clasped over my own. My mind plummets into a cold abyss…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now. I know this is probably a bad cliffhanger to leave the story on, but there isn't much story left to tell. You'll have to stay tuned to find out what happens next.**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback is well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	43. Final Destination

**Hello, all! Here is the next chapter in the story, with one last battle on the horizon. Those of you who have played through the game should know what I'm talking about. For the rest of you, I hope this chapter is worth the read!**

 **Just so you know, this chapter will contain some of my custom characters from previous chapters. There is also some new dialogue; I hope it won't distract you.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns' and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and other custom elements they introduce into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

I'm falling. That's not surprising. There's a familiar throbbing in my head. I _should_ know it, but my head is too swamped to figure it out.

I feel other bodies tumble past me; frozen arms or legs hit me head-on. These limbs are probably connected to bodies, fellow witnesses to whatever place we're all going to land in. The strangely-familiar sound reaches me again, louder and stronger. Is the sound where we'll all land? I don't know.

The darkness around me cracks at that last thought. Why should I _not_ know? There are still things I don't know, and want to learn. Alice is the biggest of these unknown things. Why did she make me as I am, when I couldn't save the Children of Wonderland?

My muscles twitch, and the cracks spread like cobwebs. Something holds me back from waking up. There's a barrier around my body, one I can break. I want to be free, like the Wonderland that I now know is my home. I want to be strong, like the woman who made it. I won't be bound down!

Light and smoke stream through the cracks as they grow into rifts. I crouch into a ball as something touches every part of me. I push out with this touch, and my bindings shatter into white mist. The Dollmaker's shell flies apart, and I fall down into the back carriage of the Infernal Train.

The Train's whistle blares. Thick smoke pours from its cathedral-sized smokestack. The windows inside glow with dark-orange fire, the exterior a thick black-colored stone. I land hard onto a glass platform. I feel no pain, and the platform doesn't buckle or break from my impact. I breathe smoke-filled air, and cough out whatever traces of cold remain inside me.

I look at my reflection in the glass. I'm in my Vale of Tears clothes, but my eyes glow like green beacons. My mists coil around me, ready to move at my command. Have I reached the pinnacle of my strength?

Someone stands near me. It's Alice, my creator, also in her Vale of Tears clothes. She looks herself over, and then me as I stand up from the glass. We stand in silence, even as the Infernal Train whistles again and starts to move to an unknown destination.

"This is it," Alice finally says. "This is where we fight. This is where the Dollmaker dies."

I nod back. I've got no better words to give.

We walk to the double doors of the car before us. They open without resistance, and we step into a long hallway of purple chairs that face forwards and backwards. Smoke and soot stream by the windows as the Train reaches a stable speed. We walk on plush carpeting past rows and rows of seats. The seats are empty, save for two.

* * *

Near the front end of the carriage, we see the Mad Hatter and the strange clock who gave me that stone back in the Domain. The former taps his teapot-staff against his hands with an irritated look. The latter waves its small hand at me when we arrive. I instantly flash back to just what happened with that stone it gave me. I don't want to talk to it, but Alice stops before the clockwork man.

"Hatter," Alice says before I can open my mouth, "I must stop this Infernal Train, and the evil force that drives it!"

The Hatter doesn't look at her, or change his expression. I take this chance to quickly move to the animated clock.

"Listen," I whisper to it, "someone stole that stone you gave me in the Domain. I never got it back. I know you wanted me to keep the stone, and I'm sorry I lost it. Can you forgive me?"

The creature seems to understand me; it tilts its head forward and sticks its thumb up from its hand. I recognize the gesture and smile, glad that the loss of its gift hasn't changed its attitude towards me. I draw back as Alice repeats her demand to the Hatter, with more force.

The Hatter suddenly bursts out at Alice with a withering glare, his words mixed with spittle: "Everything's a nail, isn't it, Miss Hammerhead? First it was your search, freighted with fear and fragmented memories. Now, it's the Train! Never time for _tea_! While your brain's on holiday, we're all ruined!"

I draw in a breath through my nose. I want to shout at this madman and show him where he _really_ lies in the scheme of things. But, I keep my mouth shut.

"Now, we're all mad here," the Hatter continues with a more solemn look in his eyes, "and that's an excuse for going to hell in a teapot, but _not_ for forgetting what your senses saw. Forgetting is forgetting, except when it's not. Then, they call it something else! I want to forget what you did; I tried, but I can't."

The Hatter turns away from us both to resume his staff-pounding. Alice walks away a moment later with a defeated look, and I stick behind her. We leave the ruler of the old Domain to his fate, and exit through the next door.

* * *

The soot and fire join the screams of countless Ruin creatures that I can't see. The Train must be moving very fast, but I don't feel any pressure against my pace. Wind whistles in my ears, but it doesn't blow me away.

I follow Alice through a set of giant black pillars that hold a tall fence made of black metal together. We enter the second carriage to find it is built the same way as the first. Again, rows upon rows of empty seats are here, and the Train's chaos flows outside the windows. We walk slowly down the rows in silence.

We soon come across two familiar insects next to each other. Caterpillar, now a butterfly, flutters in midair above one larger seat. Next to him is Chouku, coiled around two seats with his wings flat against his back. He rises up when he sees me, and I rush over to embrace his mandibles.

"Oh, Chouku," I whisper into his hard exoskeleton, "I've missed you so much. I was stupid to forget our friendship." My dragonfly mount clicks his mandibles together in a soft hiss as he nuzzles against my face.

" _So,_ " Caterpillar's voice then rings out to us both as I step back from Chouku, " _have_ _you both come to receive your punishments?_ " I stare at the butterfly, confused as to what he means.

"I know we're both guilty of something," Alice replies as she shields her eyes from the glare of Caterpillar's wings in what little light there is here, "but punishment never suits the victims of a crime."

" _Abuse is a crime the strong visit on the weak,_ " the guardian of the Oriental Grove explains. " _And, you're right; abusers are insufficiently punished for the damage they do. Those who witness abuse without seeking retribution for the harmed pay a penalty._ "

Alice lowers her head, and Caterpillar turns to me. I feel like I'm about to be lectured to.

" _You doubted yourself until the last moment,_ " Caterpillar states with a voice that stings like an arrow to my heart. " _Your failure to believe led to the loss of everything you considered dear._ "

Damn it, he's right. I bite my tongue until I feel blood in my mouth, and hot tears spring to my eyes. I don't want to hear this, but I can't ignore it. I _have_ failed, it's true. It won't happen again.

" _Your earlier pain, Alice,_ " the transformed insect continues as he turns to face her, " _mitigates your failure to act earlier. But, you may not have paid enough for witnessing the suffering of others._ "

I hear Alice hiss between her teeth as Chouku quietly clicks his mandibles. She bumps past me, and down the carriage's aisle. I follow her, and don't look back.

* * *

We step out into more of the Infernal Train's noise and smells. The smoke sticks to the roof of my mouth, and gives the blood I spit out a burnt flavor. I brush my mouth with the back of my hand as Alice strides through another ring of pillars. Another black fence blocks us from the outside storm.

Alice shoves the third carriage's doors open. We quickly move through the empty seats, but stop cold when we come face-to-face with the Queen of Hearts. She sits alone, her scepter gone, her clawed hands clasped over robed legs. Her crown still floats above her head, and she looks at us just like when she had her throne.

I instantly fall to my knees, of my own will. I hate the Queen for what she did to me, but I understand her position now. She used authority, and commands, to keep whatever strength she could take. She ruled with an iron fist, in order to stop chaos from consuming Wonderland. The Dollmaker, in comparison, wants to change this world at its core, deeper than any laws or regulations. He is the worse ruler, in my opinion.

"Your Majesty," I say to the Queen, my eyes locked to the floor as I speak with as much dignity as I can muster, "I apologize for not knowing how power worked in Wonderland. Now, I know my place, and what I am capable of. Therefore, I humbly ask for your forgiveness to my earlier actions."

I hold my breath. The Queen doesn't speak, but I feel her eyes on me. I don't know if she can read minds, but she was able to twist mine to her will. I don't want to take the chance.

She eventually gives one word: " _Stand._ " I obey instantly. Her human face, carved in the image of a young Lizzie Liddel, doesn't change its expression.

" _I cannot forgive you,_ " she states. " _The powerful have no need, no chance, to forgive. Rules must be in place, no matter the cost. I tried to make your weaker mind understand this when we first met. But, you are too focused on lesser concepts like friendship and trust. They will destroy you, in the end._ "

She falls silent and watches my reaction. I clench my fists, and don't look away from her gaze.

" _However._ " The Queen pauses after this, and her eyes narrow slightly. " _You_ _and I are cut from the same cloth; we just_ _use our power in different ways_ _. You serve a superior power without question, even if it means killing others. I kill others to make them believe, without question, that my power is superior. Remember this, and I will tolerate your existence._ "

"Th-thank you, my Queen," I sputter out in shocked gratitude, even though her words aren't as happy as I thought they would be. I place a hand to my chest, and bow to her once again as Alice steps forward.

"My dear Lizzie," she desperately asks as I raise my head to see these two converse, "what is this Train's destination?" The Queen's eyes grow dark as her frown grows even deeper. This gives her an older appearance that better fits someone who's ruled for many years.

" _Madness and destruction,_ " she quickly answers. " _You shouldn't ask questions you know the answer to, it's not polite. And that noise wasn't Lizzie talking in her sleep._ "

"Oh, no," Alice moans as she covers her face with her hands. "Poor Lizzie…!"

" _And there are no centaurs in Oxford,_ " the Queen adds in while Alice's body shakes with sobs. " _Make your survival mean something, or we are all doomed!_ "

I grab Alice's shoulder and turn her away from the Queen, not wanting her to suffer any more from the memories of her sister's murder. The Queen doesn't object to this, and we step out of the carriage with no further words.

* * *

We now stand before a giant pit of coals, embers, and Ruin. A glass bridge stretches over this pit, but it doesn't seem very safe to cross. The screams of Ruin once again meld with the Infernal Train's sights and sounds; now, the cries are almost understandable.

Alice lowers her hands, and I see black streaks run down her face. She wipes them off with a hand, and then stands upright on her own. She looks back at the carriage, and then walks onto the bridge without stopping. I follow behind her as sparks fly up from the pit below us. None of them hit us, but I can feel the searing heat as we cross.

We reach the other side safely, and we open a pair of metal doors to find a smaller room filled with instruments, pipes, and gears. There is no further door forward, so this must be the front of the Train. The engine room.

The room shakes as I hear a sinister laugh. Then, the rooms front and ceiling are torn away by a pair of giant, wrinkly, mangled hands that hang on strings. These strings connect to the Dollmaker, his left shoulder burned from my desperate attack. Ruin still drips from his mouth and eyes as he twists his hands around as easily as if his arms were still there. His lower body is now a massive column of bubbling Ruin.

The corrupter of Wonderland, the source of the Ruin, bows to us both as he mockingly says, " _Hide in your shells!_ "

I instead draw out the Automaton Hammer and shift into a combat stance. The Dollmaker laughs again before he lowers his giant left hand towards us. There's a white doll mask on the hand's back.

" _The past must be paid for,_ " the Dollmaker insists as the hand rises into the air. I teleport back just as it slams into the glass. It then rises back up as the Dollmaker's strings twitch rapidly. I run over to the closer of two metal pillars still in the room, and switch the Hammer to 'RM'. When I prop my shot, the hand moves back and up. I try to keep my shot on target, but the hand darts skyward before I can fire.

I lower the Hammer as the hand moves closer to me, and then clenches into a fist. I jump back, and the hand smashes the space where I just was. The impact causes a small shockwave on the glass. The hand digs into the glass for a few seconds, and I just stare at it. There might be a pattern, here.

The hand then stomps across the glass on two fingers. It goes towards Alice first. I see her teleport around the edge of the area to avoid getting squished. I teleport to the other pillar when the hand gets close to me. The hand moves back to Alice, and then back to me, as we both keep it busy. Finally, it stops for a moment. In that moment, the white mask on its back turns into a Ruin mask.

I prop up the Hammer, and fire a shot at the mask. The molten projectile hits, and the Dollmaker cries out in pain. His pain is my joy. A moment later, pepper bullets fly into the mask, and it cries out like an Insidious Ruin. A second later, it changes back to its previous white surface. Alice's bullets just bounce off this outer layer.

I figured this battle wasn't going to be easy. But, we know how to deal with this enemy. We just need to avoid its attacks, and then strike back when it takes a rest. Simple! Right?

The hand leaps into the air as I question my battle plan. This time, it points its palm down at Alice as it dives at her. I watch Alice teleport back, but the hand flies back up, and down again, before she can react. A loud _smack_ makes me wince as the Dollmaker laughs triumphantly. While he raises the hand up, and rattles that hand's strings, Alice wobbles around on her feet. Amazingly, she isn't crushed from the impact. In fact, she just looks dizzy.

I prop up a second shot with the Hammer. I fire it when the hand starts to move again. It hits the skin near the mask, but not the mask itself. Despite this miss, the Dollmaker shouts " _Repulsive brat!_ " at me. I guess I've got his attention.

The hand drops a large blob of Ruin onto the glass. Five Insidious Ruin rise up from that blob, and they quickly split between us. I run back to a far wall, and three Ruin follow me. I check the Hammer, and its gauges state the weapon needs to recharge. I dismiss it, and summon the Incense Cup, as the Pepper Grinder fires from across the room.

I shoot the Insidious to bits before they can get at me, my shots precise and quick. The Dollmaker is our main goal; these Ruin are just a distraction. Luckily, I've fought these creatures so often that it is easy for me to kill them.

I quickly take out the multiple Insidious, but the hand suddenly swoops to grab me. I just barely teleport away. The hand pauses as I reform, and the mask turns to black Ruin. I fire a few shots, and the Pepper Grinder joins in from nearby. The mask breaks apart, and the Dollmaker shouts a series of words I don't understand. Alice teleports up to the hand and try to slice it apart, but the Dollmaker quickly brings it out of her striking range.

The tyrant spits, " _Couldn't even kill a fly!_ " as he lowers his undamaged right hand into the fray. The hand quickly carves a line of purple dust with a nail. It then flings the dust at us, and I leap over the wave. Alice just teleports through it, and the two other dust waves the hand uses. I jump up and down like I'm on a bouncy surface.

The hand's mask turns to Ruin, but it changes back to white before we can strike. The fingers then flick at us, and Drifting Ruin form in the air. These Ruin growl while the hand waves a finger like Hysteria did to chastise me. He's mocking us, which won't go unpunished.

* * *

The Drifting Ruin fire at us in sequence; I run to the hand as an idea comes to mind. I switch to the Ice Wand, and fire a bolt at the hand as I run. It hits, but the hand doesn't stop moving. I hear the Pepper Grinder and Teapot Cannon fire between each other from behind me, my focus on the hand in front.

I suddenly hear, " _Remembering will break you!_ " from the Dollmaker. My eyes burn with unexpected pain. When things clear up, the hand holds everything below my neck in a cold grip. It squeezes my body before I can speak. I can only shriek as my bones pop out of place and my muscles cramp up. I feel like I'll be squeezed to a pulp, or pieces.

My eyes roll back as the hand throws me to the ground. There's no soothing touch from my mists. All I can do is moan, my ears filled with roars. This feels like when the Queen's _FLESH_ overwhelmed my mind, except I don't have the mercy of falling unconscious.

Wait. I actually _want_ to fall unconscious in the final battle? Why am I thinking like that? I can't let my emotions control me. I need to fight!

My cramps vanish as if they were never there. My bones snap back into place with a few quick _cracks_ and _snaps_. I rise up as a spiked Ruin ball flies by my face. My pain turns into sharp tingles, like clouds charged with energy.

I summon the Ice Wand back to my grip as the Dollmaker's hand flies behind Alice. The hand grabs her just as she shoots down the last Drifting Ruin. I run over as Alice is crushed in the same way I was. Her scream combines with the Dollmaker's laugh into a distorted sound. I switch to the Automaton Hammer as anger gives me more energy.

"Let her GO!" I cry out as I leap at the hand's mask, and flick the Hammer's power switch. My swing makes a visible shockwave of fire and air that blows the hand back, and release Alice from its hold. I teleport up to the hand and swing again; it floats back from me, and then suddenly swats me off my feet. I land hard on my back, quickly getting up as Alice lands a tea grenade on the hand.

I run, and teleport, with Alice as best I can. Neither of us get a chance to fire as we run, but the hand doesn't catch up to us. The seconds tick by as the Infernal Train chugs on to its destination.

" _Frightened of your shadows?_ " the Dollmaker taunts as he brings the hand up and away. It comes down as a fist, and I dive to one side. It smashes into the glass, but doesn't break it. Its mask also turns to Ruin; Alice quickly deals a five-slash combo with her Blade with a few spins and twirls.

As she finishes, the hand darts forward and pinches her genitals. Alice's eyes bug out as she squeals in agony, a sound that grates on my bones. Once the hand lets her go, she falls to the glass and flops around. I race over to protect her, but the hand draws back from her before dropping another large blob of Ruin onto the glass. This blob turns into two Menacing Ruin.

" _The cost of forgetting is high!_ " the Dollmaker insists as each Menacing reaches behind its back. I get Alice up as a fireball slams into the glass right next to me. We move around both sides of the pillar, Alice waddling around with a bow-legged walk. Once the Menacing's barrage stops, Alice slumps against the pillar we're up against and vigorously rubs her legs.

"Fucking psychopath," Alice growls as she draws the Hobby Horse to her grasp. "No one damages my most private sanctum!"

She then charges out of cover, towards one of the Ruin. I ready the Hammer into 'MM', and attack the other one. I dodge a swipe from the hulking creature, and land a hit of my own.

Then, the hand stomps in. It kicks at me with a finger, and I teleport back. I reform just in time to see the strike break the Menacing's body apart. Looks like the Dollmaker doesn't care who gets hurt, anymore.

" _Pretenders!_ " the giant shouts as the other Ruin charges at me, " _You resist new chances, new lives!_ "

I teleport around the Ruin, and slam the Hammer into its back. Sharp nails rake along _my_ back in turn, and knock me down. I smell my blood in the air as I roll away. The Ruin draws another fireball as I try to stand up with a bleeding backside. I fail, and the Ruin roars as it raises its arm.

Alice suddenly appears in a swarm of blue butterflies. Her umbrella flicks open, and bounces the fireball back at its sender. The first of its three masks shatters, and it stumbles away with a groan. Alice extends a hand to me without looking away from our enemies; I take the hand, and she pulls me up with great strength. The Dollmaker's hand comes at Alice with wiggling fingers, but she forces it back with a supercharged tea grenade.

A fireball slams into my gut as I step away from Alice. I double over, and the edges of my vision turn white for a moment. My training kicks in, and my feet move from side to side as two more fireballs slam into the glass where I just was. I switch to the Ice Wand as my vision clears, take a quick breath, and fire a sphere of cold. The sphere slows the Menace down, and pepper bullets from Alice quickly shatter a second mask.

The sound of crunching metal makes me look to the pillars. The hand now bends down to us from one of the giant pillars. The white mask opens its mouth, and spits out orange fire at Alice. Alice is enveloped, and something small and sharp slashes into my cheek. I hiss as I focus on the Menace, but it blocks my bolts with its smaller arms.

' _Great,_ ' I think as I dodge another round of fireballs while blood flows down my cheek, ' _It's got new tricks_ _!_ '

I switch to the Fire Whip, in the hopes of tying the Menace down. When I swing, the Dollmaker's hand actually grabs the burning rope, and yanks it out of my hands. The flames don't burn it as it tosses the Whip to a far corner. I glance to the Dollmaker as the Ruin grunts and snorts like a wild animal; the giant gives me a black-toothed grin.

A cry from Alice snaps me back to the fight. She teleports up to the Menace, and pounds into its blubbering mass with the Hobby Horse. It squeals as it melts back into the ground. The Dollmaker's hand then slaps her against a nearby wall. Luckily, she only shakes her head for a moment, and the hand's mask turns black again. I teleport up to the hand, and give a charged swing. Alice joins with the Horse, and the mask shatters under our combined force.

The Dollmaker calls us, " _Make-believe avengers!_ " as he pulls that hand away. Alice teleports to the pillars, and I keep an eye on the Dollmaker. He moves both his hands over to the pillars, and the ground shakes as his body rises slightly up before us. He lowers his head down to us, a black tongue falling from his mouth.

The Dollmaker quickly spits out several Drifting Ruin, along with giant balls of saliva. Each saliva ball makes a loud _hiss_ as it strikes the ground. The Drifting bombard us alongside their master, and I have to keep running to not get hit. Small globs of saliva that get on me burn as strong as the Eyepot's hot tea.

I run without any chance to stop, and the onslaught suddenly ends. I switch to the Incense Cup, stumble on my shaking feet, and fire at the nearest Drifting Ruin. My shots miss for a few moments as my legs ache painfully. Once my target finally dies, I focus on the next Drifting in line. I don't know where Alice is right now, and a part of me doesn't care.

Alice suddenly runs by me, Vorpal Blade in hand. The Dollmaker's hands remain on the pillars as he continues to spit saliva at us. My muscles now scream as I have to keep moving. There are too many enemies to focus on the corrupter himself. I slip behind one of the metal pillars, but the Drifting quickly float around my cover. I fire at the closest one, but two other Ruin balls splatter on me. I give up fighting for now, and just teleport away as far as I can.

Suddenly, the Dollmaker screams in pain. I look over, and let out a surprised laugh. Alice has just sliced the Dollmaker's tongue in half! Fuck, she's amazing!

" _Raaagh!_ " The Dollmaker roars at us as his tongue dribbles more Ruin down his chin. " _I will not be denied!_ "

His hands scoop up the Drifting Ruin still alive, swirling them into a ball. This ball is pressed onto Alice, and it envelops her completley. He then heaves up a torrent of Ruin from his inhuman gut onto the ball. He's trying to drown Alice in his infernal muck!

No, wait, now he's pulling his hands back? What the heck—?

Oh. It's a Colossal Ruin. One that spits out a blood-covered Alice onto the glass after it gives a ground-shaking roar. Is this the Dollmaker's final card?

I feel so weary, I'm not sure I can lift my arms to make a single swing.

Wait, Alice is injured. She's closer to the Colossal than me. I need to help her!

I teleport over to Alice as the Colossal opens its 'mouth'. I scoop her in my arms as quickly as possible. Up close, Alice's limbs look twisted in several wrong places, and her blood smells rancid. She shuffles slightly in my hands as I run.

Suddenly, something wet, and burning hot, splashes on my feet. I fly into the air as I hold Alice's body close. Alice screams as we hit the glass hard. A wave of anger, hatred, despair, and sadness shoves me away from Alice as her form twists and distorts. Hysteria's pitch-black eyes weep fresh blood as she takes control.

" _This ends here,_ " Hysteria roars as her fingers change into long claws. " _This madness, this corruption, ends here!_ "

The droplets of blood around, and on, Hysteria rise into the air. They swirl around the insane woman like my Unleashed mists. Her rage is a visible red aura that digs into my heart. She _pulls_ me off the ground, and I Unleash instantly.

My copies surround Hysteria as she charges at the Colossal with a blood-soaked Hobby Horse. She jumps into the air by her own strength, and my copies slam into the Colossal's body as she comes down. Her strike sends a ripple through the monster's body, and it stops moving.

My copies pull, claw, and dig into the Ruin's frozen form. I pull out pipes to bash their owner's faces in. Alice swings the Horse again, which makes another ripple. I now dig into the metal bits inside the monster's body, and rip them out. The third swing blows a mask off with blood-red energy. My copies fly down the Colossal's mouth as it tries, and fails, to eat me.

The other masks break in seconds, which triggers the second stage. My copies grab at the Colosal's new mask, and try to pull it apart. Other copies act as footholds for Hysteria as she switches to the Vorpal Blade. The blade drips blood as it goes _snicker-snack_. The beast wails in pain as it feels our fury.

Fire streams out at us, to no effect. Hysteria slashes and claws over and over, again and again. The Colossal doesn't last long before this rage. Once it melts away, Hysteria turns to the Dollmaker. My copies keep her airborne, the mad eye of my storm.

Hysteria runs forward, and my copies run with her. I keep the Dollmaker's hands back with tens of my hands. Hysteria draws her hands back, and gives two slashes to the giant's tongue, and mouth. The first splits the mouth from the rest of his face. The second slash cuts off the entire mouth, tongue and all.

The giant howls as his body flies back. Ruin gushes from him like blood as his form breaks apart. I smile as my copies rush back into themselves, reform back into the single me. The tormentor of my home falls down to the engine of his Infernal Train. His hands grab onto the metal pillars, but the pillars break off almost instantly. His fingers latch onto the air, dig into the glass, for any kind of support.

Then, one of the hands wraps around my waist. It crushes my reformed body, and doesn't let go.

I slide along the glass, in the Dollmaker's grip. I fall over the edge, but grab onto something solid. Below me, the Infernal Train's storm opens into a black abyss. I grit my teeth as I feel the hand pull me down with it.

"Hang on, Kyle!" Alice shouts as she teleports to my side and grabs my hands. "I'll get you free!" She pulls me, and I pull against the Dollmaker. But, I feel my grip slip away.

I'm going to die, here. There's no way around it.

"Alice," I shout desperately as our hands continue to slide apart, "don't worry about me. You need to fight. Fight for Wonderland! Fight for yourself!"

Just as I finish, our grip breaks. Alice screams something out as I fall into the maelstrom. Fire burns my skin away as an enormous pressure crushes my bones…

* * *

 **Alright, that's all for now!**

 **The next chapter will be uploaded sooner than the weekly schedule; there are a few things left to wrap up, and they won't take as long as a week to post. Stay tuned until then!**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are well appreciated.**

 **Draconos is taking off!**


	44. Madness, Returned

**Hello, all! Here is the epilogue I had mentioned last chapter. There will be a longer message after the epilogue that I hope you will stick around to see.**

 **DISCLAIMER:** 'Alice: Madness Returns', and the 'American McGee's Alice' series are owned by Spicy Horse and EA Games, including any beta content not used in the final game. The author owns their OC, and any custom elements they choose to add into the story.

 **Onward to the Chapter!**

* * *

In a moment, everything changes.

Sunlight breaks through darkness. I shut my eyes tighter, but that doesn't help. My arms twitch as I try to lift them up. My body feels so heavy that I don't want to spend the effort. So, I just lie there. The sunlight also slowly warms my body, which feels nice.

I open my eyes once I start to sweat. I first see a blue sky with white clouds. I then see a bright yellow sun. I look at the sky, my mind lost as to how I got here. The last thing I remember was falling into the Infernal Train's storm, and being crushed to bits. What caused me to wake up in a place like this? Also, how am I alive to begin with?

My mind answers with a shift in the air around me as I stand up. Alice stands nearby when the shift completes itself. I reach out to touch her shoulder, but my hand phases right through her body. That hand, and arm, are now white mist. I try to make it solid, and nothing happens. I try to summon a weapon, and nothing happens. I look over my body; it's all turned into mist. I open my mouth, and no sound comes out.

What's going on?

* * *

Alice stands in a grayed-out London street, in her London clothing. She is the only bit of real color in the scene. Other men, women, and children float around, all of them made of the same mist as me. Alice walks past them, and through them, without slowing down. I follow her while floating in the air, and right through these mist-people. Some of these people are folks I've met in London.

Dr. Fixxler rubs her hands on Huginn and Nanna's heads as she sits on a staircase. The group of boys I saw arguing over a poster by the docks run by her, and through me, without a sound. On the far corner, Jack Splatter leers at a woman in a large dress. A few blocks later, the drunken sailor from the docks stumbles by with a hand on his head. Two thick-bodied police officers walk right through a wall.

Alice doesn't notice any of them, or she doesn't care they're here. I follow her down several more streets, and many more mist-people, until she reaches a train station entrance that's near Houndsditch. The blare of a train whistle sounds as Alice reaches a descending staircase. She looks around for a moment before she proceeds. She still doesn't see me, or notice me at all.

Steam floats around every lamp we pass by as Alice walks down. Her footsteps echo in the tunnel, the only sound I can hear. When we reach the lower level. more lamps fill every corner of the area with light. Alice squints her eyes as she moves with a purpose. She doesn't turn to the side, or slow down. There's not much to look at here, anyway. She walks down another set of stairs, and stops at a platform that leads to a curved tunnel. I raise my head to peek over the platform's edge, and see railroad tracks laid horizontal to where Alice stands.

There's someone else down here, standing on the platform in front of the tracks: a man in a dark brown coat, brown pants, black shoes, and muddy-brown top hat. His back is to us, but he turns around as we arrive. It's Dr. Angus Bumby. The tormentor of Alice's mind, and the purger of her memories. He doesn't look surprised that Alice is here. He doesn't notice me, either.

Dim sunlight shines through a glass ceiling, and lights up the area. Bumby's monocle glints over his right eye as he smiles at Alice. The smile looks calm, but I know now that is far from the case. I float to a space between Wonderland's creator, and its corrupter. I hear Alice's heavy breaths as Bumby adjusts his monocole once again.

"You oozing sore of depravity," Alice suddenly shouts at the man. "Children wearing their names around their necks, as if breeding livestock!"

"A declaration of their pedigree," Bumby answers with strong bravado. "You could use one, they're proud to display their provenance!" He then lets out a brash laugh, and I see Alice clench her teeth. I watch these two converse back and forth, point to counterpoint.

"You brute," Alice continues. "They can't remember who they are or where they're from. How many minds have you twisted into forgetfulness?"

"Not enough," Bumby angrily answers. "Yours would have been a triumph! Still," he declares with a dark grin, "you're an insane wreck. My work is done."

"You used me, and abused me," Alice admits without losing her cool, "but you will _not_ destroy me!"

"No? The damage is done." Bumby waves his hand as he states his accomplishments: "The old Alice, and her Wonderland, are demolished. You can't even recognize what's happened, and you're powerless to change it or move against me. I've made certain of that."

Alice places her hands on her hips. A gust of wind blows some paper across the station floor. She looks like she has more to say, and Bumby doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Did he come down here just to hear this? Did he _know_ Alice was going to figure things out, and confront him?

"You corrupted my memories," Alice soon says, "but you failed to make me forget!"

"I could have made you into a tasty bit," the doctor insists. "Clients out the door waiting for a piece from a raving delusional beauty with no memory of the past, or no sense of the future." He then frowns as he says, "But, you failed to forget; you insisted on holding onto your fantasies. You're mad! Like your sister, and your silly little boyfriend!"

"Don't you speak of them!" Alice shakes a clenched fist at Bumby as she says this. "You didn't know them…!"

"Oh, really? Your lover was a piece of your chaotic pie, a stepping stone to your conquest. He could have joined you in serving the greater good, but he blindly followed your delusions. You were his obsession, his drug. I had to show him the real world, pull him away from your silly games."

"Then, you failed," Alice chastises with a huff. "Kyle Zuclair isn't your puppet, nor am I!"

"Then he's mad as you, and your sister! _She_ was a tease, pretending to despise me. She got what she wanted, in the end…"

At this, I see Bumby draw out a key; the metal key from Alice's memories. The key to Lizzie Liddel's room. This proves Bumby was obsessed with the young woman. I dash forward and try to punch his head in, but my fists go through him with no effect. I give a few punches and kicks, but he doesn't react at all.

"I'll see you charged," Alice growls as I float away again. "In prison, some half-wit bruiser will make you his sweetheart… and then you'll hang!"

"Indeed?" Bumby chuckles at this threat. "A hysterical woman, former lunatic, roaring outrageous accusations against a respectable social architect and scientist. My God, Alice, who would believe you? I scarcely believe it myself!"

"You monstrous creature," Alice spits out, her tone sounding desperate. "Such evil will be punished!"

"By who? By what?" The doctor actually looks around the station, like someone will pop out of the stones to state they will, in fact, help Alice. He ends his search with the words, "Psychotic, silly bitch! Your _madness_ will be punished. Now, leave! I'm expecting your replacement."

Bumby then takes out a golden pocketwatch from inside his coat pocket, and flips it open. He holds the key in the same hand, the small object tied to a thin chain of beads. Alice looks at Bumby, and then the key. A grim expression settles on her face as she steps forward. I float up as close as I dare, my heart in my mouth as to what will happen next.

Alice gets within inches of Bumby, and then swipes the key out of his hands. Bumby stutters out something as Alice whirls around, and takes three steps back to the stairs. Then, she slowly turns back to face him.

Before my eyes, Alice's clothing and appearance change into her Vale of Tears state. Her hair flows back in a breeze I don't feel, her eyes shimmering with anger. I look to Bumby; his mouth hangs open in shock. Alice strides up to him, and he fearfully steps back to the platform's edge. He then flails his arms to stay balanced, and a loud _rumble_ turns my attention to the darkness of the tunnel's right end. A set of lights grows brighter with each second, along with the _clack-clack_ of wheels on rails.

With a quick step, Alice shoves Bumby over the edge. He cries out as he falls onto the tracks. Before he hits the ground, a metal train slams into his body with a loud _crunch_. A few bits of blood fly onto Alice's face as the train barrels over his corpse. Her hair flies to one side as the train brings its own breeze.

As the train slows down, Alice turns away from the murder she's caused. A smile flickers onto her lips for a single moment as she walks up the stairs. I don't blame her for it. The man that killed her parents, violated her sister, and betrayed her trust, is finally gone.

Then, everything goes white.

* * *

I sit upright as I see colors again. The same sun and sky from before are above me. I'm on top of a two-story stone building, which is next to a gigantic orange mushroom. The mushroom looks right out of the Vale of Tears. But, that place had changed to the Vale of Doom the last time I-

No. That's not true. It _was_ true, but isn't any longer. Things have changed.

I look at myself; I'm in my Vale of Tears clothing, clean of any tears or stains. I stand up as I slowly take in all the strange sights around me. A water tower has grass growing along the sides, but the metal looks fresh and clean. The cobblestone streets have small snails crawling alongside alley cats. A statue of the Mock Turtle rests by a fancy parasol umbrella. A series of smaller mushrooms grow in the midst of the stones, and along the wall of a nearby building. The air I breathe is a mix of London's smok, and the Vale's humidity. It smells... quite pleasant, actually.

A familiar _whoosh_ of air comes from my left. I turn to see the Cheshire Cat sitting on a nearby mushroom. He looks at me, his eyes the brightest I've ever seen them. I stare at them, into them, and then I understand.

The pieces snap together in my head. Things have changed. Wonderland and London have fused together. We, and the rest of Alice's creations, now live in a 'Londerland' that is unique and special. It is the best of both worlds, a paradise for someone as 'mad' as Alice.

But, Alice's madness isn't important. She won, and saved us all. _That_ is what matters.

I nod to the Cat, and he twitches his ears. His grin, like always, never fades. He turns his eyes to the streets, and I join suit. I can see the tran station at the far right end of the path. A lump grows in my throat as I imagine Alice coming out, and seeing what she's made.

A moment later, Alice actually walks up the train station's stairs. Her eyes go wide, and her mouth drops, as she sees Londerland's beauty. She slowly steps out into the streets, and begins to look around. I want to go to her, embrace her, but I hold back. My conscience, and common sense, tell me she may still be traumatized from the battle she fought.

Still, I can offer a few words of comfort. She may not hear them, but I want to say them because they are that important.

"You've won, Alice," I state. "It may not look like it, but you've won. You've also helped solve my problems. Now, my soul is found. Now, my mind is fixed. Now, I know who I'm supposed to be. I am a piece of the unique tapestry that is your wonderful, and dangerous imagination. Thank you."

I brush away a tear with my hand as the Cheshire Cat gives a long, slow sigh. He then speaks his own monologue as Alice walks beneath us, exploring her new creation, and all it has to offer her.

"Ah, Alice, we can't go home again. No surprise, really. Only a very few find the way, and some don't recognize it when they do. Delusions, too, die hard. Only the savage regard the endurance of pain as a measure of worth. Forgetting pain is convenient. Remembering it, _agonizing_. But recovering the truth is worth the suffering. And our Wonderland, though damaged, is safe in memory… _for now_."

* * *

 **Alright, that's it. The story has ended.**

 **For the people who have read this from when I started this story, thank you for your continued interest over all these weeks and months. For those who read this later on, I hope this story has been entertaining for you. It was a challenge to write at times, but I have your continued views, and comments, to thank for motivation.**

 **As usual, any reviews, comments, constructive criticism, and feedback are appreciated. What did you all think about this story? What parts did you like/dislike? What could have been added/removed?**

 **Whatever the case, thank you for reading my work.** **Draconos is taking off!**


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